


interstellar

by kurgaya



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Humor, M/M, Nakamaship, Not Abandoned, On Hiatus, Romance, Slow To Update, The Author Regrets Everything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-07-11 15:58:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 33,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7059478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurgaya/pseuds/kurgaya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The boat that carries Luffy far from Foosha is little more than a few planks of wood nailed together, but he loves it.</i>
</p><p>i>(The need for adventure lures him out to sea - just as the Summer God said it would).</p><p>[APRIL 2018: Minor revisions made to chapters 1 and 2. Clarity improved. Some dialogue edited or removed].</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beanisaweirdo](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=beanisaweirdo).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Ruby :)
> 
> [Chapter edited on 15 APRIL 2018 to improve clarity. Minor sentence adjustments made. Some dialogue removed.]

“Here, twerp,” says Summer, squashing the boy’s unyielding tangle of hair with a hat woven of straw. Scratched and well-loved, the hat fits the child too large, and both Gods laugh as Luffy peers out from beneath the colossal brim.

“You hang onto that for me,” says Summer, grinning with the red glows of midday. “And if you ever feel the pull - come find me, yeah? You know I'm always around somewhere.”

“Not the snowy places,” Luffy says, clutching onto the hat. Already, it is his most treasured possession - but then, he is a God that even the Gods avoid, and he's never been gifted with much to begin with.

“Ah, better avoid the winter islands,” Summer says, waggling a finger of his only hand. “She still hasn't forgiven me for - well. Maybe that's a discussion for when you're older.”

He laughs from his belly, and then wipes a tear from the gleeful ruby of his eyes.

Luffy doesn’t understand, and he cries out, hoping to share in the joke. “But Shanks, I'm old now! I'm older than everyone on this island!”

For a moment of halted laughter, the God of Summer seems chastised. But before Luffy can feel guilty for upsetting the Old God, Shanks grins. He pinches Luffy’s cheek, wobbling the child’s face about. “Not as old as I am, are you squirt?”

The little God flusters and bats the hand away. “I will be!”

Shanks laughs again and then, for a reason Luffy cannot fathom, scoops the pouting God into a hug. Luffy _omphs_ into Shanks’ chest; the man’s inner inferno is like a touch of sunlight against his cheek, warm and gentle despite his raging solar core. Apart from Luffy’s grandfather, Makino’s the only one who can bear to touch him, and Luffy sniffs, threatening to dribble tears into Summer’s dawn robe.

“All right then twerp, I'll hold you to that,” Shanks says, stroking Luffy’s back. Each brush of his fingertips is like a pitter-patter of hot, golden rain, and Luffy sniffs again, wiping his face on the other God’s shirt. “Grow old and happy like me, and hey, we'll meet again. If you run into trouble, you know where to look for me.”

“East and west,” Luffy recites. “And never -”

“North or south,” they say together; Luffy smiles crookedly, wishing that his only friend didn't have to leave, and Shanks pinches his cheeks once again.

“Hey-ey, what sort of face is _that_?”

Luffy squeals. “Aha Shanks, you're hurting -!”

“You can smile better than that, you twit! Come on, haven't I rubbed off on you at _all_ -?”

“You have, you have!”

“- I'm such a _disappointment_ ; I’m a _failure_. Can't even get _one_ kid to _smile_ -”

“I am, I am! See? I can smile like you!”

Luffy scrubs the tears from his face, smearing his scarlet blush and the snot from his nose across his hand. He mirrors Summer’s loopy smile. Only, the tears don't stop, but Luffy thinks it's okay, this once, because Shanks is crying too.

(“Whatever am I going to do with you?” Makino sighs at him later, fussing over Luffy’s watery smile, and out across the ocean waves, past the horizon, between the stars, Benn sighs the same at his summery friend and swats the God over the head.

“You look ridiculous,” Benn says, and both Shanks and Luffy laugh).

 

 

 

Years pass. The seasons come and the seasons go, but Summer, himself, never returns to the untroubled island bobbing upon the Eastern Blue. Over _almost_ everything does Luffy prize the straw hat and the promises it keeps. He loves it inhumanly, cherishes it like no mortal man or woman could ever adore such a flimsy, fragile thing, but is the chink of sake cups and fire blazing red, white, and blue that bring him comfort when he needs it most.

When it’s time to leave Foosha Village - when there’s nothing left for him anymore; nothing but the sickening loneliness and the pull of something more, a far off, inexpressible feeling that he can never hope to explain on this harmonious land - Luffy doesn’t look back. Makino, he will miss, and the reluctantly-parental bandits to some degree, but there is a whole world waiting for him beyond the horizon. Afew smiling faces amidst the many who frown (scowl at him, hate him) are not enough to keep him here.

Ace and Sabo had been enough, once, but that was a long time ago.

( _Why do you stay?_ Sabo had asked once, bright and melancholy Sabo with his crooked teeth and crooked smile, twirling his weaponised pipe in once-broken but still fighting hands. He lived his human life with scars and demons that few humans do, and Luffy wonders, now, if it had been _breakable_ Sabo in his body of flesh and bone that had been the strongest of them all.

 _You’re a God_ , he had said to Luffy that day, watching the raven-haired, straw hat wearing deity attempt to swallow a watermelon whole. _Shouldn’t you be doing… God things?_

Luffy’s only answer had been to lift a befuddled gaze to his older brother, his cheeks impossibly bloated with the colossal fruit. Saliva dribbling from his mouth, he had smiled a smile worthy of rivalling Shanks’ summer sun, and Sabo had glanced incredulously at the quietest of their trio.

Unhelpfully, Ace had shrugged, and when Luffy had laughed at his brothers’ bemusement, half-chewed dollops of watermelon and seeds burst everywhere.

Ace had _literally_ combusted, but Sabo hadn’t been so lucky in avoiding the sticky shower).

The boat that carries Luffy far from Foosha is little more than a few planks of wood nailed together, but he loves it. As a means of transportation, truly, he doesn’t _need_ it, but it becomes a necessity to successfully blend in with the human way of life. Plus, _Willing_ himself everywhere detracts from the thrill of this great, wide world, and if Luffy is going to do _one thing_ while exploring East Blue and beyond, it’s to fulfill his promise to Shanks.

The need for adventure lures him out to sea - just as the Summer God said it would.

Luffy keeps the hat close; a reminder and a purpose. One day - one day in the far, _far_ future - he will return a hat so loved that it’s ribbon red will be burgundy brown, and it’s edges, stiff and worn already, will flop and fray when held. Shanks will laugh, of that Luffy is sure, and scoop the hat from the little God’s hands - or not so little, as Luffy hopes to be then. Maybe he’ll have friends beside him by then, a group of them, a _crew_ , and maybe Luffy will be happy as Shanks; happy enough to sweep his hat from his head one final, awaited time.

Human or not, God or not, a crew of eight or nine - or ten! - sounds like a dream. A good dream, of course, not like the dreams that plague the night, dark, sinister things and empty, _so empty_ , but Luffy shakes those thoughts away for now, casting his gaze out to the horizon ahead.

The sea is so very blue.

He passes the first evening adrift, untroubled by where the waves may take him. Briefly, he marvels at the ocean stars, the distant suns reflected bright across the water’s surface, but at the touch of his fingers, something _powerful_ seems to stir beneath the waves, a creature of the deep unsettled within the bottomless blue. Unwilling to tempt the Gods so early into his voyage, he refrains from disturbing the water for the rest of the night. It would just be his luck, Luffy supposes, to anger a Sea God or two. He remains out of the ocean’s reach as best he can, so of course, he promptly trips over his oar the next morning and face-plants into the depths.

The whirlpool _may_ be a coincidence, but Luffy knows more about ire than he would ever like to admit. The waters are tempestuous and thick with a wrath only capable of Gods; he could drown in it, _would_ drown in it if he were anyone else, but as it is, he _knows_ about anger and he _knows_ about pain, and he flips the Ocean the bird before wrenching himself free.

(Human curses are so creative).

He clambers back onto the boat, clambers into the _barrel_ , and then waits out the stormy sea with his head tucked to his knees, hungry, cold, and bored.

When the world is calm again and he wakes sick-sea and sloshed, there is a boy inspecting him for signs of life, one podgy finger poking Luffy’s side. Candyfloss pink hair aside, the boy is entirely human, and though he probably wouldn't be jabbing a God’s ribcage if he knew exactly _what_ was lying before him, he peers at Luffy with the terrified sort of reverence that humans typically adopt when discussing the immortal kind. It must be the whirlpool thing, Luffy concludes, and though he feels a little bad for the white lie, he decides to explain his survival as luck, rather than any divine intervention.

(Humans are easy to lie to. Gods, not so much).

(Maybe he should be looking for human friends).

The human doesn’t look particularly convinced by the explanation, but Luffy’s continued existence discourages him from questioning. Instead, the boy introduces himself as _Coby_ , and Luffy smiles and laughs and plonks his hat back onto his head, introducing himself in turn.

“Are you… a pirate?” Coby asks, considering Luffy’s waterlogged waistcoat and denim shorts with a wary eye.

“A pirate?” the God coos, thinking of Ace, Sabo, and of Shanks sailing away. _Piracy_ was not his intent when he left Foosha Village, but it could be a means to an end, he supposes, considering the idea. “Dunno! I could be! What’re you?”

Coby doesn’t quite puff out his chest, but the attempt is there. “I’m going to be a _marine_ , not a pirate. That’s my dream!”

“A marine? Cool! Do marines have lots of friends? Do _pirates_ have lots of friends?”

“Wha - being a marine isn’t about making friends,” Coby insists, sounding offended by the idea. Apparently Luffy has yet to understand the core concept of being a marine, but then, he’s never met one before. “It’s about maintaining justice and doing the right thing!”

“Oh okay,” Luffy says, bored with the idea already. _Maintaining justice_ is not exactly his forte, and _right_ and _wrong_ are not often considered by Gods - especially ones like him. Maybe piracy _is_ the better option? “Then I’m going to be a pirate! Hey, d’you wanna join my crew?”

Coby’s replying _NO!_ is so loud that a fierce woman wearing a cowboy hat comes crashing in to investigate, and as she spits and rants and threatens the duo with a pink, podgy finger, Luffy learns that he is upon a pirate ship, and that the lady yelling profanities is the captain of such ship.

Coby cowers in Alvida’s great shadow, but Luffy merely picks his nose disinterestedly. Though a pirate he has only just become, he vows to be a better captain as he clobbers the woman across the deck and high-tails it off the ship, dragging the spluttering marine-to-be behind him. Coby squawks at him, thanks him, and questions his sanity all in the same breath, and Luffy just laughs at the sheer ludicrousy of their escape, thinking that if this is what it means to be a pirate, then being a pirate can’t be so bad after all.

By the time they reach Shells Town, Luffy hasn’t persuaded Coby to join his crew. He isn’t bothered, as Coby hasn’t persuaded him to join the marines either. They’re different - their dreams are different, their outlooks, and their very existence too (although Coby isn’t to know) - but by the time they reach the tranquil town, Luffy feels as though he has made a friend - his first, finally, and one of hopefully many. It’s a promising start to his adventure on the seas, and though Coby will no doubt leave him soon (there’s a marine base on this island, apparently, the first step towards Coby’s dream), Luffy is glad to have made a friend, no matter how brief their time together may be.

Fate, however, seems to be working with Luffy today.

They seek directions to the marine base in the first pub they find. The town is quiet, oddly so, as though the very streets are reeling in surprise, and the bar is almost empty despite the midday hour and summer sun.

“Hey lady,” Luffy says as they enter, calling for the attention of the woman behind the bar. She's pretty as Makino is pretty, perfect long hair and dimpled smiles - or, she would be, Luffy imagines, if she were not polishing the pint glass like a clockwork doll, thoughts plaguing her motherly air as she scrubs and scrubs and scrubs. At the beckoning, she startles, emitting a soft noise of surprise, and Coby echoes it as the tension of the bar becomes clear.

Luffy noticed the moment he stepped foot through the door, but turmoil and chaos seem to fester around him, dark beacons luring him in.

“What happened here?” he asks, wiggling onto a barstool. Coby mirrors him, scanning an uneasy expression around the stagnant patrons of the pub. Luffy doesn't bother. The bartender’s hands continue to fidget; she'll be able to tell him everything he needs to know.

“You're travellers?” she replies, finally setting down the glass. The dishcloth she keeps; Makino used to wipe the dirt from Luffy’s face with one like that.

“Coby’s gonna be a marine,” Luffy says, slapping the young boy on the back. He squawks, face lighting up to match his rosy pink hair.

The bartender’s frown twists deeper. “There's not much left of the marine compound here, anymore,” she explains. Briefly, she glances over at the single fireplace in the room, the hearth crackling and red with flame, and then shakes her head at Coby’s expression of stupor. “We are fortunate it’s gone.”

Coby deflates in his seat, bemoaning an opportunity missed, but Luffy leans forward, eyes bright with curiosity as he presses his face into his hands.

“Was there a fight?”

The woman’s sigh is disapproving. “We shouldn’t speak ill of the Gods,” she admonishes, uttering it quietly as though the words themselves are enough to anger those involved.

Luffy grins triumphant. “Aha, there was! Who Visited?”

“Luffy!” Coby cries. “You can't ask that! The Gods’ wills are not ours to question!”

“Pfft, they're never listening anyway,” he replies, meaning _that's dumb_ and _why wouldn't you question them?_ Poor Coby only looks appalled at his blasphemy, which would be the appropriate reaction if Luffy were anybody else.

“Come on, we should go check it out!” Luffy says, hauling Coby to his feet. “Gods always leave a mess, huh?”

“Wha - _Luffy_!”

Luffy stops abruptly, crying an _oh!_ of realisation as he whirls back around to the bartender. “But you said you were lucky, right?” he asks her, leaning around Coby’s indignant expression to blink at the woman. “So the God helped you, right?”

The bartender glances over at the fireplace again. It continues to burn with a lazy glow, charcoal blistering to grey within the blaze, and Luffy blinks at it too, pondering her fascination.

“He arrived almost a month ago,” she says, a sad look on her face. “He saved my daughter and I from execution. The captain here was a terrible man, and we feared him more than we feared the Gods. When He came, He didn’t look like a God, and truly, we did not realise until… He offered himself in exchange for our safety, and the captain locked Him up without any food or water and treated Him terribly, and I remember… I remember how He smiled no matter what Morgan did. He just smiled and said nothing, and then when Morgan shot Him, these flowers just started to grow.”

“Spring?” Luffy guesses, recalling little knowledge about Shanks’ blossoming counterpart. Winter, he knows, is to be avoided at all costs, but Spring and Summer get along well enough, if Luffy remembers rightly.

The bartender shakes her head. “I don't know. He left before we could offer anything in gratitude. The compound’s like a forest now.”

Once more, she looks towards the hearth, and Luffy can see a sheen of sweat across her brow now. Outside, the summer sun blazes in through the windows, but not once has anyone made a move to douse the flame.

“It was burning when we returned,” the woman explains, catching Luffy’s inquisitive expression. She smiles as softly as Makino, perhaps thinking of the God, or thinking of her daughter. “I think… He must have lit it.”

 _Not Spring then_ , Luffy thinks, interest piqued. For all the years he has lived - in comparison to some, hardly any at all - he does not know much about the other Gods/ But his nature, his misfortune, his _ways and means_ have never failed in driving the Gods and Goddesses away. Resolved now to discover what this God left in his wake, Luffy thanks the bartender and drags Coby off through the town. The marine-to-be splutters about _bad ideas_ and then, when Luffy isn't to be dissuaded, _directions_ , but they soon find that asking for the way is a pointless endeavour. Over the rooftops, a great, shadowing form can be seen - a mountain, it seems, proud and resolute - and as they race through the winding town to investigate, flowers can be found pouring out of the streets, the paths crumbling to make way for a legion of trees.

The remains of the marine barracks are somewhere in the distance. Roots and branches entangle in its gate, and flowers of a million kinds bloom in the gravel courtyard. There seems to be a stake or a cross made of wood just hidden by a magnificent, old oak, and poppies of a brilliant red are scattered around it, the patches malformed like bloodshed bespattered.

Coby breathes, “Whoa,” and Luffy tilts back his hat as though it’s possible to take in the colossal woodland all at once.

“Guess you won't be joining the marines here, huh?” Luffy says, taking in the destruction. Beautiful though the forest may be, the trees have wrecked their havoc on the compound’s infrastructure. Clearing the area again will be a massive undertaking, but the humans here will not dare to destroy what they see as the work of their saviour.

“The whole building is just… gone,” Coby murmurs, awed by the forest’s relentless growth. He shakes his head at the sight, muttering _wow_ under his breath.

It's definitely not the work of Spring, Luffy realises, but who exactly passed through this town he cannot discern. Most Gods keep to themselves, either apart from this fragile realm of humans or hidden among them, like Luffy, to spend their days watching, learning, and _living_. What a strange God the creator of this chaos must have been.

“We should pay our respects,” Coby says, resolved to do so but unsure as _how_ exactly they should go about this. “I don't think we should go any nearer though.”

Luffy hums, agreeing, and thinks of the hearth burning back at the bar. He has never paid respects to any God before, not as the humans do, but if Coby wants to then Coby can; it's not Luffy’s place to criticise.

(He wonders, briefly, if Coby would pay respects to _him_ , but then, Luffy has never been a God to which people pray).

“A candle,” he decides, smiling at Coby’s surprise. “We should light a candle and take it onto the boat with us.”

Coby splutters, astonishment morphing into incredulity at Luffy’s easy grin. “You want to take an _open flame_ out to _sea_?”

“Yep! I think that'll work. If it gets blown out, it’s the thought that counts?”

At least, Luffy hopes so. Maybe the candle will have to burn for a certain amount of time, or maybe it's an insult in comparison to a fireplace. Regardless, Luffy doesn't really care, and he imagines that this not-Spring God probably won't be fussed either.

An uptight God wouldn't waste _any_ time on this world, right?

Coby sighs a sound that Luffy is quickly recognising as defeat. “I suppose,” he says, nodding with uncertainty. He gazes back out towards the compound ruins, and whatever he sees there straightens his shoulders, lifts his head back, and makes him seem a little taller, somehow, as he turns to face Luffy and the sea.

“I guess we're going to be travelling together for a little longer?” Coby asks, rubbing his neck almost sheepishly.

Luffy pumps a fist into the air. “Yeah! We need to find you a marine base! And FOOD.”

 

 

 

The candle burns for all of five minutes. Coby frets about offering insult and desperately tries to relight it, but Luffy kicks back his feet and laughs.

“It burnt for a little while didn't it? And we haven't upset Him yet, so I guess He must be lazy!”

“O-oh, oh I guess,” Coby says, only looking faintly reassured. He worries his lip as he sits back, hands still reaching for the unlit candle. A minute of hopelessness passes, and then Luffy’s easy-going smirk seems to register. “Wait - hang on a second! You can't say _that_ \- !! We really _might_ anger Him!”

Luffy just laughs and thinks, _I'd like to see Him anger me_.

 

 

 

Their boat wobbles from island to island, but the duo have no luck with locating another marine compound. Spirits remain high despite their misfortune, and days roll by with long hours of laughter and roiling waves. Luffy will be sad to see Coby go, but to be a marine is the boy’s greatest dream, and Luffy will help him to achieve that dream in any way he can.

Even if it means being alone again.

“Oiiiii!” comes a shout one afternoon, startling the God from his slumber. Tipping back his hat of straw to investigate, Luffy lifts himself from the bottom of their boat and spies Coby pointing at something far ahead.

“Luffy look!”

There's a fish bobbing larger-than-life across the water’s surface - only, it appears to be constructed of _wood_. Luffy hops over to get a closer look, squishing himself up against Coby as the boat teeters beneath them, uncertain about the combined weight of their enthusiasm.

“I think it's a restaurant,” Coby says. “Should we -?”

“FOOD.”

The restaurant proclaims itself the _Baratie_ , and Luffy _oohs_ appropriately as they peek through the front door, releasing a wash of smells and hasty, hungry sounds from within. Reasonably busy, the restaurant is a coral reef of life, waiters, customers, and chefs zipping around the bustling place in all manner of colours - blacks, whites, and merry beli greens. There doesn’t seem to be a theme to the decor or the people within except _hungry_ , although one young man stands out from the crowd: in the corner, his only company is a psychedelic cluster of paints, pastels, brushes, and more, and somehow he seems both out of place and exactly where he should be, eating not one crumb of food. Everyone seems content to ignore him, their eyes passing over him as though he, himself, with his marigold dungarees and head of woolly, umber hair, is one of the artworks he has painted - an abstract to be experienced, sensed, subliminally perceived, rather than thought about at all.

Luffy ambles over to the curly-haired man to take a seat - or Coby does, to be exact, for the moment Luffy pulls out a chair and goes to make himself comfortable amidst this haven of clattering crockery and fresh, sizzling sounds, a foot swings out of nowhere and _kicks_ him straight back out the front door.

(Coby squawks Luffy’s name and rockets to his feet. The young man with the paints glances up at that moment, neither smiling or scowling but exasperated, in fact, but not with the acrylics splattering an artwork on his skin. “You don’t want to get involved,” he says, dark eyed and dark tongued like a spell, and he smiles all paradoxically bright as Coby returns to his menu without a care in the world).

Outside, Luffy peels himself up from the decking and blinks, wide-eyed and flabbergast, as a man breathing smoke and approaching like flames kicks the Baratie’s door shut with a deafening _crack_. The man taps ashes from a cigarette and the heel of one boot against the ground; a warning, no doubt, like a horse restless to charge. Unfazed, Luffy heaves himself up without a second thought for the danger, his smile all sunshine and dare.

“ _You_ ,” begins the stranger, fury unhindered by the fringe across his face. Only one eye is visible - sea blue; so very blue - but not even the single swirled eyebrow can detract from his anger. “Flipped me the _bird_.”

“Eh?” Luffy replies with a clueless cock of his head. He can’t recall ever cursing this man before, but as he scratches his cheek in thought and exaggerates the tilt of his neck, something seems to _change_ about the stranger in Luffy’s new, slanted viewpoint. It only lasts for a moment, a trick of the light maybe, but for a second the blond seems all coloured with blues; his hair the ocean waves, his eyes deep, deep, deeper than ever could be, and even his skin seems to pale to translucent, his chef’s whites like the clouds reflected at sea.

“ _Oh!_ ” Luffy realises, pointing an accusing finger at the man’s - the _God’s_ \- provoked rage. “You're the one who made the whirlpool! Hey, I almost died!”

The chef puffs his cigarette, the burn of the tip promising pain. “Tsk. I don't want Gods like _you_ in my waters,” he snaps, voice dense with ire and dark like the bottom of the sea. He is the treacherous shallows and the tide unforgiving, and Luffy frowns at the anger; wavers, just slightly, at the hate.

(It’s always the hatred that hurts him).

“But I’m hungry!” Luffy says, trying to make it less of an argument and more of a _point_. Arguing probably won’t do him any favours, especially against a God as tempesting as the sea. He sticks his bottom lip out for emphasis; he really _is_ hungry. “I won't be any trouble, swear it!”

The Ocean seems unconvinced, but the sharp edge to his expression slips away, rough waters breaking on the shore. “It's not in your nature to be peaceful,” he says, as though he really, truly, has any idea of Luffy’s nature (as if anybody, truly, has any idea).

“It's not in _your_ nature to be merciful,” Luffy shoots back just as flippantly, and the chef emits a choked-off sound, suffocating in his own open-water peril.

“ _Food_ isn't a mercy.”

Luffy shrugs. “Not drowning me is.”

 _Please,_ the God’s eye roll seems to drawl. “You were lucky.”

“Nah. I think you're kind! I'm Luffy! What's your name?”

“Sanji,” Ocean says, the reply automatic and followed by a scowl. “And you don't know anything about me.”

“I know your name.”

Astonishment flashes across Sanji’s expression. “Wha - _you_ -!”

Grinning brilliantly, Luffy begins to rock back onto his heels. He likes this God, short temper, fiery tongue, and all. “Sanji’s a nice name and you're a nice person!” he says, laughing over the God’s spluttering. Sanji’s eyebrows look like whirlpools, and Luffy grins despite himself. “Have you got any meat? I like meat.”

Sanji sighs, shaking his head. “ _Fine_. But I'm not clearing up any mess you make.”

“I won’t make a mess!”

Sanji sighs again, ushering the bouncing God inside. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, idiot.”

In an uncharacteristic display of apathy, Coby doesn't so much as blink at the bootprint bruise across Luffy’s nose when the two Gods return. Sanji clicks his tongue and snuffs the cigarette out on his hand, shooting the artist at the next table an exasperated look. In fact, the cigarette doesn't so much as _extinguish_ as _disappear entirely_ , and Luffy watches astonished as it sinks beneath the God’s skin and vanishes from sight, swallowed up by the Ocean’s body of currents and tides.

The young man shoots a similar expression back at Sanji, jabbing a paintbrush into the God’s chef whites. Disapproval radiates from every tight curl of his hair, and Luffy blinks, astonishment mounting as he realises that the artist had seen Sanji’s action for what it truly was - supernatural. On the other hand, Coby doesn’t react at all; in fact, he doesn’t seem to notice that anything is amiss.

“Quit fretting, he’s human, he's not going to See me,” Sanji drawls, eyeing the paintbrush with disdain. Considerately, the rounded end is pointed towards him, not the bristles, but Sanji doesn't seem to be under the impression that this makes him any safer. “And _you_ Spoke to him, didn't you?”

The artist sighs, and Sanji sighs back with twice the exaggeration. “Don't lecture me, arsehole,” he says, as though the artist has said anything at all. “I thought you didn’t like Speaking to mortals?”

“You're a God _too_ ,” Luffy blurts, whirling around to blink starry eyes at the artist. The young man squeaks, reeling away from Luffy’s wonderstruck expression, and then scratches his unusually long nose as if to say, _oh, didn’t I tell you?_

“Yes let's tell everybody,” Sanji deadpans, his glower warning Luffy back into his seat. “It's not like we remain Unseen for a _reason_ , moron.”

All three Gods glance at the single human at the table. Coby flips over the menu to read the other side, unusually oblivious to the conversation taking place. Luffy wants to laugh at the sheer weirdness of it all.

The unnamed God smiles. “I'm Usopp,” he says, sticking out his hand. Luffy shakes it with exaggerated, loopy motions of glee. “Don't mind grumpy-pants here, They mean well.”

“Damn you,” Sanji grumbles. “Why can’t you say _nice_ things?”

Usopp bites the end of the paintbrush to suppress his laughter.

Luffy smiles too, even though he doesn’t understand the joke. “I’m Luffy! Is the food here good? I'm really hungry.”

“Sanji’s the best cook _ever_ ,” Usopp says with a twinkle in his eye, and Sanji emits a sound that Luffy could never hope to describe, blushing so fiercely that he - _they_ , Luffy thinks, vowing to remember - might as well be fire, the tips of their ears burning like the sunset pink and golden over the sea.

“Fuck you,” they stammer, outrageously embarrassed (or flattered, maybe, given Usopp’s widening grin). Sanji snatches Coby’s menu up before storming away, muttering about _dishes_ and _recipes_ and _steak_.

“But,” Coby says, thrown back into reality with a bleary-eyed blink. “I didn't order anything?”

“Sanji’s good at feeding people, don’t worry,” Usopp sooths. “You’ll like the steak.”

Coby offers Usopp a smile all innocent and naive, and it's an oddly trusting expression for wary, timid Coby, especially to a man he knows nothing about - an immortal man who lives Unseen and keeps a bantering company with the sea.

“I'm Usopp by the way,” Usopp introduces, twirling a curl of hair around his paintbrush. “And as far as you’re aware - until I Say otherwise - I'm mute okay?”

“Okay,” Coby says, accepting this contradictory statement without so much as batting an eyelash.

Luffy’s eyes boggle. “But then we won't be able to talk,” he argues, completely _beyond_ perplexed about Usopp and Coby’s strange conversation. Manipulating the sea, the sky, and the seasons around the globe he can understand, but what sort of domain does Usopp reside over to influence humans in such a way?

“That's all right,” Usopp says, and maybe it's possible to pass Unheard as well as Unseen, for Coby gives no indication that he can hear the artist speaking anymore. “It’s probably best I don't talk much anyway.”

By the time Sanji returns with their meals - which is to say, not a particularly substantial length of time; the Ocean must be a _really good_ cook - Luffy and Coby have recounted the beginnings of their adventure to their new friend. Despite how little Usopp says, he is an avid listener to their tale, nodding along and scribbling questions at the appropriate moments. He seems particularly intrigued by their near-encounter with the not-Spring God, but if he has any information to share on who may have Visited the town, his lips are shut tight about it. Luffy’s disappointment doesn’t last; he’d rather find the elusive God himself, and asking Usopp for all the answers would definitely count as cheating.

Ocean presents the plates with a light-footed flourish, encouraging them to dig in. Prompting is the last thing Luffy needs, shoving half of _whatever it is_ that Sanji has prepared for them into his mouth. Usopp laughs a sound that only the Gods can hear as gravy splatters hot and appreciated over the table.

“Is it to your taste?” Sanji asks, smoothing down their chef’s whites with an anxious sweep of their hands. Not once do they berate Luffy’s lacking table manners despite the elegance of the dish, their words, their appearance and their very _nature_ , and it seems strange to think that the Ocean, so vast and free, has reduced themself to genteel subservience and a life of such restrictions.

“I like the steak!” Coby announces, and Sanji repeats that long-suffering sigh from earlier.

“You don’t have to spare my feelings,” they groan Unheard at Usopp, oceanic shoulders slumping with umbrage.

Usopp rushes to explain, scratching his nose in a way that Luffy will come to recognise as embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to! I just -”

“And you could’n’t’ve Said something better than that?”

Usopp splutters. “The greater the probability, the easier -”

“Yes, all right, I know. Forget it,” Sanji interrupts, waving away the excuse before turning to Luffy instead, raising one spiralling brow. “How about you?”

“It’s a bit chewy,” Luffy lies, gauging the Ocean God before him. His lips slapping together with a wet, squelching noise loud enough to muffle Usopp’s grumble of _oh, well, all right then_.

“I shouldn’t have expected you not to cause trouble,” Sanji says, but even so, the nervous fidgeting of their hands increases, urging them to add: “I can make you something else. Anything else.”

“That’s a strange way of running a restaurant,” Coby says, reminding them all of his mortal ears.

“It’s my duty as - a _chef_ ,” Sanji counters, jaw clacking together with their affront. “I _provide_.”

 _The Ocean provides_.

“Well, you don’t _have_ to,” Luffy says, munching his way through the rest of the steak. It’s the best thing he’s ever eaten by a long-shot. “You should do what you _want_ to - that’s what I’m doing! I haven’t caused any mess like you said I would, right?”

“That’s different,” Sanji argues - but before Luffy can discover how different, the front doors of the Baratie crash open and a man encased in golden armour stalks inside.

A colossal spear drags behind him, carving through the decking with each swaggering step, but he swings the weapon with ease despite its weight, the oversized end _cracking_ through the hinges of the Baratie’s door. Chunks and splinters of wood hurtle into the restaurant. Some of the customers scream, scrambling out of the way, and from the kitchen a mob of knife-wielding chefs emerge, one of them peering at the mess disinterestedly from beneath his monumental hat.

“Oi eggplant,” this chef calls, cutting off whatever the murderous newcomer opens his mouth to declare. “I thought I told you to keep your business _outside_ of my restaurant, eh?”

“Mr. Shiny over there is not _my_ business,” Sanji snaps, shooting the gang of chefs a withering glare.

This only seems to further amuse them, and the one with the big hat and the equally impressive moustache throws back Sanji’s indignation: “Well then, if he’s not hungry then he won’t have to worry ‘bout swimming after a meal, will he?”

“Sheesh, I’m not your fucking guard dog, old man.”

The chef dubbed _old man_ rumbles a laugh. “Yappy enough, ain’t ya?”

“Oh, _woof_ ,” Sanji snarls, and they shove a cigarette into their mouth, clicking open a lighter with such extravagance that they may as well be flipping the bird.

By the time the tobacco begins to burn, Don Krieg is little more than a violently purple, crumpled mass on the deck, a barrage of crushing kicks having conquered his golden armour and flattened it to the ground.

Sanji dusts themself off, scowling at the bloody flecks on the end of their shirt. Don Krieg hadn't bleed _that_ much, but the stain appears to enrage Sanji enough to want to clobber the armoured pirate once again.

“I thought I said I wasn't going to clear up any of your mess,” they growl, glowering at Luffy as he approaches, flip-flops smacking against the wrecked decking.

“Aha, that wasn't mine,” Luffy replies, poking Don Krieg with a toe.

“ _Metaphorically,_ that was your mess. Which I now have to _clean up_.”

Usopp peers around Sanji’s other side. Pointedly, he does not look to Don Krieg, staying close to his friend as though the Ocean and their angry smoking are really safer to be around. “You know, you wouldn't have to if you just let Zor -”

 _Hell no_ , the rush of smoke in Sanji’s next breath rasps. “I am _not_ letting that moss-headed _moron_ onto the Baratie. You _know_ what He’s like - _no_ ,” they swiftly add as Usopp goes to reply, “Shut your mouth, I don't want to know the answer to that. Forget it, I don’t need that algae-brained idiot to deal with this.”

With one final, venomous drag of their cigarette, Ocean storms back inside through the splintered doorway, leaving the other two Gods to blink at Don Krieg’s batted form. Sanji’s kicks are _lethal_ , and Luffy feels a grin stretching his rounded cheeks as the last of the chaos ebbs away.

Beneath them, the sea lulls its treacherous churning, Ocean’s footsteps far away.

“They really do mean well,” Usopp insists, laughing shortly.

Luffy laughs too, loud and sincere alongside Usopp’s forced tremble. “You know Sanji pretty well! Have you guys been friends long?” he asks, rocking back on his heels.

Usopp blinks a moment of surprise at the question before his smile, too, shines sincere. “Years, now,” he replies, declaring it boldly. _Years_ could be anything from a human’s lifespan to centuries beyond, but maybe they never thought to count the time. “We weren't always friends though. Sanji’s a little infuriating sometimes, but you can get used to it.”

“Are you a water kind of God too, then?”

Usopp shakes his head, adopting that sheepish _oh, didn’t I tell you?_ expression again. The concept of ruling over the waters seems to amuse him, and he denies the prospect with only a twinge of something bitter in his tone: “Nah, Sanji insists that They only like to share Their domain with women. But I couldn’t imagine being the sea anyway! That’s a lot of marine life to look after, you know? I'm Truth and Childhood, actually, but not at the same time.”

“Ehh?” Luffy coos, intrigued to find a God with a domain more abstract than his own. “Why not?”

“Childhood’s full of lies, isn't it? Everything I say is true when I’m Truth.” Usopp shrugs as if this isn’t an absolutely _astonishing_ concept, and Luffy emits a noise of glee.

“ _That's so cool_! Hey, hey, how does having two domains work? Do you like - change? Or do you decide what to be whenever you want? Can you control it? This is so NEAT.” Luffy shrieks, bouncing so enthusiastically that the decking creaks beneath him. Oblivious, Don Krieg lies unmoved at Luffy’s feet, but Usopp rushes to calm the straw-hatted God to no avail.

“ _What’re you at the moment_?” Luffy asks, bellowing the question at the long nose just inches from his own.

Usopp grips Luffy’s arms to still him. “Luffy, Luffy, you need to _stop_. I’m Truth at the moment,” he says, and then, as Luffy’s bouncing grinds to a halt, brow pinching, hat flopping at his shoulders, Usopp laughs. “I'm not lying, I swear. You'd know if I was Childhood.”

“How?” Luffy breathes, and emerging from the Baratie once again, Sanji barks a laugh.

“Well,” they call over, broom resting against one shoulder. A wicked grin breaks open on their half-hidden face, revealing teeth as white as pearls. “He's about _yay high_ -”

They squat down to gesture an imaginary line in the air, and Usopp’s squawk echoes out to sea, his face flooding with scarlet outrage as Sanji continues to laugh.

 

 

 

Seeing little point in rushing to set sail, Luffy and Coby assist with the clean up of the Baratie. Though hesitant around the rowdy cooks at first, Coby soon integrates himself into the organised chaos with a pirate-worthy determination, sweeping, tidying, and reassuring the frazzled customers of their continued safety. Those that are pirates just laugh it off, claiming normality within the ruckus, and Luffy laughs, too, swinging his legs from a tabletop as he munches his way through the last of his meal.

Despite the clean up, the Baratie never seems to _quite_ achieve a peaceful atmosphere. The chefs are unruly and the customers only more so, but there is a joy in that disorder that Luffy can appreciate. Sanji, too, seems unbothered by the disarray in this place they call _home_ , and that's a marker of a pirate if Luffy ever saw one.

“Your friend doesn't know what you are, does he?” Sanji asks - later, but not late enough that human eyes and human ears have surrendered to sleep, although on the balcony far above the lowest decking, the Gods’ conversation is safe from by-passers slipping by.

“Nah,” Luffy replies, squishing his face further into the balcony bars. The sea before them rolls and waves, and he wonders if it pulls at Sanji just as the sun calls the Summer and freedom urged brave, human Sabo far, eternally away.

“Do the other chefs know about you?” he asks.

Sanji laughs a humourless noise, leaning over the balcony just shy of Luffy’s hat. “The old geezer does,” they say, probably referring to the head chef with the tremendous hat. “Couldn't exactly hide it forever, especially when -” They cut themself off, seeming to think better of admitting something so personal, and shrug instead of finishing the thought. “Shit happens. You might not have a choice about telling him.”

Luffy pouts into the balcony, the wood further contorting his misery. He _knows_ that, but… “I don't want him to treat me any differently,” he whispers, swinging his legs over the Baratie’s rooftops. “If he knew what I am, he might not…”

“Like you anymore?” Sanji finishes, breathing smoke and impassivity. “His loss.”

“Is it?” Luffy mutters.

The Ocean sighs and taps ashes from his cigarette, and Luffy looks up to watch them drift away. Sanji is watching him with a guarded expression, but when they catch Luffy’s watery stare, their jaw seems to loosen with a grudging _click_.

“You're not that bad, you know, for a God of -” Sanji waves a hand, motioning to the entirety of Luffy’s dejected form. Luffy cracks a smile at the backwards compliment, and Sanji fiddles awkwardly with their cigarette before inhaling a sharp lungful of smoke.

“Hey,” Luffy says, prompting a swirly eyebrow to rise. “You wanna join my crew?”

Sympathy forgotten, Sanji barks a laugh. “I don't like you _that_ much.”

“Then how about being my friend?”

“No.”

Luffy pouts, his bottom lip wobbling with such despondency that Sanji seems to waver, their body of oceans and blues swaying with Luffy’s tearful moan. They curse, huffing smoke, and nudge the little God into squawking with the sharp of their shoe.

“Go pester Usopp,” Sanji says, not unkindly. “I know He'll say yes.”

Luffy sticks his tongue out at Sanji’s shoe, and then does the same to Sanji’s steadfast smirk. “But I want _you_ to be my friend too.”

“Cute,” Sanji says, laughing as few do in the face of Luffy’s pre-eminent domain. “But no thanks. I've got a sea to reside over, idiot, I can't just go skipping off with you.”

 _Why not?_ the tilt of Luffy’s head asks, crow-feather hair sweeping across his face. “But don't you think you'd make a cool pirate? You _are_ the Ocean after all.”

Sanji - laughs. “I'm already a pirate, dumbass, and that’s never going to change,” they reply, speaking firmly, voice deep-sea thick with pride. Their head shakes just slightly as though filled with disbelief, but when they cast their gaze out beyond the Baratie, Sanji stands unwavering, their heart long-lost to the throws of the sea.

 _Is this it,_ Luffy thinks, so close to Sanji in that moment and yet so far apart, _is this what it means to be a pirate?_

“I'm not joining your crew,” the Ocean declares, and there truly is nothing that Luffy can say except -

“All right.” ( _If that’s what you want, if that’s how you really feel, but you’ll join me one day, I know you will_ ). “But I'm still going to consider you a friend.”

He’s definitely not giving Sanji a choice about _that_ , and the celestial chef clicks their tongue before rolling an exasperated expression towards Luffy.

“You've got a weird way of making friends,” they comment, but they sound almost fond, almost pleased, and Luffy considers it a _win_ that the Ocean hasn’t immediately shot him down.

He grins, dazzling Sanji’s insipid pallor with a smile of sunlight glistening atop the sea, then pats Shanks’ beloved hat and appreciates the bristly edges there. “Coby’s my first friend, and Usopp’s my second! You're my third, now! I'm going to sail the world and make a lot more, and then I'm going to find Shanks and give back His hat and have an _adventure_!”

 _Why are you telling me this_ , the crease of Sanji’s forehead seems to ask. Yet, with either great restraint or something more (something that resonates with Luffy, something that he _understands_ ), the Ocean does not utter these words. Instead, they raise a sole, swirly eyebrow towards the straw-hatted God, the curl of their brow far kinder than that of the whirlpool from before.

“What sort of adventure?” they ask, seeming sincere in their curiosity.

Luffy rewards the question with a brighter smile, as though his happiness is limitless, boundless upon his face. “The _best_ kind! I bet there are lots of really cool things to see!”

Sanji _uh-huhs_. “That's a big dream.”

“And?”

“A dream that big might be impossible.”

It is Luffy’s turn to laugh. “Who cares? I'm going to do it anyway!”

And now Sanji - really smiles - as though they had been waiting for Luffy to declare that all this time. Taking one last drag of their cigarette before letting their oceanic skin swallow it whole, Sanji crosses their legs and sits, their knee bumping Luffy’s and sloshing quite peculiarly beneath the fitted cut of their jeans.

They point out across the ocean, far beyond sight. “There’s a sea where they that the water there is like nowhere else in the world. It exists beyond my domain, and I want to find it. You ever heard of it? It’s called _All Blue_ ,” they ask, and when Luffy shakes his head - _no, tell me more_ \- the chef grins like the God before them, appearing young and hopeful and free.

 

 

 

Usopp agrees to sail with them, just as Sanji said he would. _I'll have to bring my paints, and my story books and tales!_ he says, hair bouncing as he returns Luffy’s hug, the little curls frazzled with his glee. But when he looks upon the precarious sailboat that has journeyed with its crew so far, Truth has to stop and reconsider the logistics of this.

“Can you leave some of your things with Sanji?” Coby asks, and Usopp shakes his head, adopting his “mute” persona as Coby approaches. None-the-wiser, Coby frowns at the pile of books, acrylics, paint pots and more, but before he can think of another suggestion, Usopp clicks his fingers.

Truth yanks a notepad out of his dungarees, and upon it in a scribble of swirls he writes:

_We're going to need a bigger boat._

And at Luffy’s shrieking enthusiasm, Usopp adds, _I know someone._

“Oh no,” Sanji sighs then, outlook of gloom unaffected by the Gods’ merry laughter. “Not _Franky_.”

“Eh?” Luffy calls, starry-eyed at the prospect of a ship. “Who’s Franky?”

Sanji repeats that long-suffering sigh, but maybe they have reason for inflicting it upon Luffy’s cheerful enthusiasm this time. “He’s Ambition, the Builder, the Creator, Master of All Tools,” they explain with a groan, scrubbing a hand through their fringe. The sweep of their hair reveals the rest of their face - their frustration and deep-set brows - but Usopp flips over his notepad with a frantic _thwack_ of the pages before Luffy can exclaim his disbelief.

 _I thought you liked Franky?_ he writes.

“Yeah, well, I haven’t forgiven Him for trying to - what was it? - _revamp_ the Baratie,” Ocean grumbles, exaggerating their ire with air quotation marks.

“He meant well,” Truth says Unheard.

“Yeah, you said that about the moss-head too and d’you remember what happened? Fucking _flowers_.”

Usopp glowers, expression twisting as though to hide his hurt. “I said it about you, too,” he mutters, and Sanji practically bites through their cigarette in their rush to respond -

“Flowers?” Luffy pipes up, thinking back to Shells Town and the detonation of wildlife that had occurred there. “What happened with the flowers?”

His interruption seems to remind the other Gods of his presence; they startle, unanimously deciding to ignore one another, and Luffy ensures that he's wearing his most innocent expression as Sanji grumbles and marches back inside the Baratie.

Usopp sighs, scuffing his trainers against the deck. He regards his pen with an oddly defeated glare, and Luffy feels a twinge of guilt for interrupting. _Don't worry about it,_ Usopp writes. _We should go now_.

Luffy isn't sure about that, but he doesn't argue. Instead, he heaves up a box of the paints and hops onto their rickety boat, laughing when it creaks beneath the added weight.

“Do you know if the next island has a marine base?” Coby asks before joining the straw-hatted God. He motions for Usopp to pass over another box - this one of food - but Usopp points off into the distance before scribbling, _Loguetown on the Polestar Islands_.

“Isn't that where the Pirate King was executed?” Coby exclaims.

Usopp taps his pen against the notepad a few times, but notably does not respond. This may be due to Sanji’s speedy return, strides long and sure across the decking, but Luffy isn't too sure.

“Oi Usopp,” Ocean calls, cigarette and grumpy attitude seemingly foregone, replaced instead by a small, angular object that appears to shine in the indigo hues of dusk. It's a shell, Luffy realises, or something that looks like one, and while its significance is lost to him, some of Usopp’s annoyance eases at the sight of it.

“Look,” Sanji tries, thrusting the shell into Truth’s hands. “Look, just - if you need me for anything -” And here they glance at Luffy, including him in _you_. “Just put it in water and - and call me.”

“I - I will,” Usopp replies, sounding stunned. His voice catches in his throat as he clutches the shell to his chest, but he's smiling when he breathes, “Thanks Sanji.”

Ocean doesn't quite smile back, but there is a softness to their demeanour that resonates with their narration of All Blue. They open their mouth to say something, but then appear to change their mind. “Yeah, well, your captain’s an idiot so I suppose _someone_ has to be sensible about all this.”

Luffy is smiling too hard to take offence. He has to slap a hand over his mouth to ensure that he doesn't blind Coby with the brilliant illuminance of his grin.

“Are you sure…?” Usopp says, and this time Sanji huffs, sounding more like themself.

“Just go, long-nose. I've got a lot of mouths to feed and standing here ain't doing me any favours.”

Still Usopp wavers, clasping the odd, little shell with a tenderness greater than what he shows his paintbrushes. Luffy calls out for the newest member of his crew, and just as he does, Usopp seems as though, for only a moment, to reach just slightly out to snag the end of Sanji’s shirt.

Luffy looks away before he is privy to whatever expression flashes across Sanji’s face.

 

 

 

The marine base at Loguetown hasn’t met an unfortunate end once they arrive ( _thank goodness_ , Coby sighs), but storm clouds are gathering dark skies and rain, brewing thick and thunderous like the ire of a God inflicting his terrible presence over the town. Loguetown is a city resplendent and bright, its streets wide and paved with gold, and the residents are merry despite its bloody history - executions, the judgement against a king. Luffy yearns to explore this multicoloured town, but his priorities lie with his nakama, and the need to ensure that Coby finds a home quietens the pull of Luffy’s soul.

“I hope the captain here is nicer than Morgan,” Coby mutters, glancing fearfully up at the base’s front door. The building is opal-blue and in tip-top shape, and when Luffy remarks that _a few flowers wouldn’t go amiss_ , even the paranoid human has to muffle his snickers from the listening walls of the compound.

“Do you think our offering was good enough for Him?” Coby asks, no doubt referring back to how pathetically their candle had burned.

“Dunno,” Luffy admits, although he is fairly sure it was. Whatever God had Visited Shells Town has yet to inflict his vengeance upon them, but Luffy shrugs anyway, offering Coby a reassuring smile. “Why not light a hearth? Bet there’ll be one in the base.”

“You think so?” Coby asks, gazing hopefully up at the iridescent walls. “I bet it’s in the captain’s office…”

“Then you’ll have to find out!” Luffy says, smacking the boy’s shoulder. “Right?”

Coby looks quite undecided for a moment, as though unsure whether to trust Luffy’s intuition, but then his back straighten beneath the God’s touch. He nods, finding assurity in the Luffy’s easy confidence. “Right! Yeah, you're right! I can do this. I'm going to be a _marine_.”

They don’t say _goodbye_ \- but rather, _see you later_ and _stay out of trouble_ , which makes both of them laugh.

“He’s got no idea about you, has he?” Usopp mutters, waving until the door clacks shut and marks the beginning of Coby’s lifelong dream.

Luffy just continues to laugh - a little guiltily, which gives Usopp his answer. “Come on!” he says instead of replying, tugging at Truth’s dungarees. There's nothing they can do for Coby now, but Luffy has faith in his friend’s dream. “Let's go and see the execution stand! Wait, is it still an execution stand if no one was execu -?”

Usopp slaps a hand over Luffy’s mouth, eyes wide and unapologetic. A couple of townspeople glance over, one woman sneering disapprovingly, and Luffy blinks innocently as he attempts to pry Truth’s fingers away.

“Keep your voice down!” Usopp whispers, shooting the passerbys wary looks. For the most part, they seem unconcerned by the Gods’ behaviour, and Truth breathes a thankful sigh which Luffy doesn't pretend to understand. “I’m pretty sure everyone thinks the Pirate King died here, you know.”

 _Everyone_ being the humans, and Luffy’s noise of realisation is muffled behind Truth’s sweaty hands.

“Let's _not_ say otherwise, yeah?” Usopp asks, easing his hands away. Luffy doesn't immediately bellow his astonishment, but Usopp doesn't seem to trust him not to even as an awkward pause creeps on. “You shouldn’t go outing every God or Goddess you meet, _especially the Pirate King_. There are _reasons_ some of us stay Unseen. What if - what if I told everyone what _you_ are?”

Embarrassment brightens Luffy’s cheeks, something like fear tightening in his gut. He grimaces, feeling thoroughly chastised, and Usopp cries _ah-ha!_ and snaps his fingers.

“See?” Truth says, patting Luffy’s hat with an empathetic expression. “But it’ll be all right; what're the chances we'll run into that many Gods anyway?”

Those are famous last words if Luffy ever heard them, but he just smiles in response, encouraging the conversation back to their adventure. Usopp laughs in synchrony and allows Luffy to pull him along, the two young Gods ambling arm-in-arm through the busy streets of Loguetown. Nobody so much as gives them a second glance, but the townspeople would if they knew, if they were _aware_ of what was strolling through their livelihoods, two childish grins their only protection from the power that stirs within.

The sky is dark above the execution podium, cloud bruised purple and weary with rain, but Luffy’s eyes shine enough for the sun, his mouth agape with wonder and his feet itching to climb. To think _this_ is the place where the golden era began - the era of freedom, romance, and a thousand hearts cast out to sea - and he _has_ to reach the top; has to see what the Pirate King saw that fateful, historic day.

“That's definitely a bad idea,” Truth warns, but Luffy only laughs, long-since used to _living_ with bad ideas. He gives Usopp his hat - just in case - and wedges his foot between the first two bars; Usopp squeaks, hiding his face, but still watches Luffy climb through the gaps in his hands.

Cold air greets Luffy at the top, thick and thunderous as the storm approaches overheard. He ignores it, sucking in a deep, crisp breath, and as the bitter winds burn his throat with his inhale, he grins, feeling infinite and _free_.

If this is what it means to be a pirate, then a pirate it is.

“Hey kid!” somebody calls from the crowd below, voice a growl and thickly accented with chronic frustration and smoke. Luffy blinks down to spy a man with hair as silver as his captain’s cloak, and a scowl to match the burnt-out end of his cigar. “Get down from there. Civilians aren’t allowed to climb that.”

Although he is too far away to tell, Luffy can hear Usopp muttering _oh no_ just moments before he breaks out with a grin. “I'm not a civilian, old man! I'm a pirate!”

The marine seems taken-aback by the announcement, but the bespectacled woman beside him squawks enough outrage for them both.

“A pirate?” she exclaims, oblivious to Usopp shuffling out of reach as she makes to draw the katana at her hip. “Then you are under arrest! Come down quietly or we'll -”

Luffy picks his nose disinterestedly and tunes her threats out. Her furious animation only continues, the sharp of the katana almost glinting with the neon flowers of her shirt, and Luffy smiles as the blossom print reminds him of Shells Town. Wind whips through his hair as he returns his attention to the town, the sky, and the horizon beyond. He wonders where the not-Spring God from Shells Town has gone. He wonders where the Pirate King is now, and what has befallen his domain. And just as he sweeps his gaze over the open courtyard, Luffy notices something odd zipping through the bustling crowd. It's a strange little thing, fluffy and brown and wearing a hat so pink it may as well be candy floss. It's the fact that it seems to move unseen throughout the crowd that makes it queer, the townspeople blinking oblivious to its tottering hooves and spindly horns.

It's a raccoon dog, Luffy’s sure of it.

He hollers out towards it, pointing to catch Usopp’s attention. At the same time, the grumpy marine captain in the street below seems to resign himself to dragging Luffy bodily from the tower himself, breathing deep into his cigar -

Lightning crashes down. The execution stand shatters, catapulting white hot splinters and nails across the courtyard. Luffy shrieks, the world imploded into pain before his eyes; townspeople scream, fleeing the blistering rain as the sky rumbles its thunderous warning. The air sparks and crackles around him as Luffy peels himself from the wreckage - _man_ , he's glad Usopp’s got his hat! - and as he dusts himself off, his clothes and skin seem to spit fire. Static flutters like a dance along his arm. He laughs, whistling low in appreciation, then wiggles his fingers and toes to ensure that everything is still attached.

“Luffy! Luffy!” Truth calls, scrambling over. His hair has frazzled to an enormous size, the shaggy curls appearing capable of spitting lightning themselves, but he is unharmed even as he trips over the rubble.

Luffy waves in response, flicking a shard of wood from his shirt. As he does, he catches a glimpse of that raccoon dog again, its itty-bitty tail dashing away like a rabbit. Luffy exclaims a wonderstruck sound, almost swiping Usopp’s Pinocchio nose as he throws out a hand, and just as nobody else seems to see the fleeing animal, nobody else seems to notice the girl racing after it, her tangerine hair like wildfire as she thunders through the streets.

“We should get out of here,” Usopp pants, distracting Luffy by waving the straw hat under his nose. “Come on, before those marines think we did something.”

There's every chance that Luffy’s mere _presence_ was enough to evoke the lightning, but Usopp definitely doesn't need to know that.

“You know how to move Unseen, yeah?” Usopp asks, ushering them through the panicking crowd.

Luffy plonks his hat back on and ducks his head, averting his eyes from the townspeople. Passing Unseen was rarely a necessity growing up with two brothers who know who he is. “I think so?” he replies, _sensing_ Usopp fade out of awareness. Subliminal, Usopp stands there now with a frantic expression, and Luffy sticks out his tongue, attempting to follow suit.

If Usopp’s deepening air of panic is anything to go by, Luffy doesn't quite achieve his goal. The chaos about him is just _too distracting_ ; it's battle in his ears, disorder and mayhem deafening and wild and _free_ , and Luffy clamps his tongue between his teeth, desperately trying to ignore it. He can’t, he never can, and people glance towards him as he flickers in and out of their reality.

“Sheesh,” Usopp breathes, tugging the straw hat further over Luffy’s face of furious concentration. “Look, try not to worry about it and just keep your head down - come on.”

They escape the plaza unscathed - although the burning end of Luffy’s waistcoat requires extinguishing - their alternating scampering-shimming motions like an innocent whistle screaming out from their every step. The marine duo don't make to follow, mortal and overwhelmed by the bizarre lightning strike, and Luffy kicks up the dirt and sulks about the day’s fun already being over. Usopp seems tremendously relieved, but the truthful God refrains from celebrating this debatable fortune as they make their way to the harbour in search of their little boat.

When they locate it, it becomes apparent that holding back on the celebration was the correct course of action - much to Luffy’s delight.

The raccoon dog from the execution courtyard is balanced hazardously on their boat, bubblegum pink hat tipped lopsidedly as it sniffs the planks of wood - following a scent, although Luffy cannot imagine whose as he throws himself at Truth, squawking madly.

“Usopp, Usopp, Look! Over there!” He tears away from Usopp bolt down the street; Usopp flails and echoes Luffy’s squawk, but the pirate captain doesn't relent. “Look, _look_ , it's the raccoon dog thing!”

“Luffy, I don't think that’s actually -!”

“HEY RACCOON DOG. HEY.”

Usopp hisses at him to lower his voice, but Luffy isn't listening, intrigued by the strange, fawny creature at the harbour.

Ears twitching at the captain’s holler, survival instincts imploring it to flee, the animal jerks away from their boat with a peculiarly frenzied expression for a raccoon dog, and then bounds down the dock emitting a shrill shrieking sound. It runs _towards_ Luffy, and though Luffy narrowly avoids tumbling over his sandals at this, he _does_ face-plant the ground when he charges straight into someone sprinting around the next corner. Whoever it is yells a noise not unlike the raccoon dog and shoves Luffy away from them; he laughs as he rolls away, blurting half-hearted apologies, but then falls silent quite abruptly as the girl glowers from beneath the sweeping locks of her marmalade hair.

“Watch where you're going!” she snaps, scrambling to her feet. She moves with a grace that Luffy could never hope to achieve; light on her feet as though they dance beneath a body made of air. The girl whirls a staff towards him, the sleek, silver contraption seeming to crackle like a thundercloud confined.

“Err,” Luffy says flabbergast, blinking at the fizzling end. Either she has no idea just who she’s currently threatening, or she's angry enough not to care. He hopes it's the latter, and he grins in the face of her unstoppable flare.

“Hi!” he tries, bouncing up. The weapon hisses at him and he laughs, reaching out to poke the little sparks without a care. “I'm Luffy. Who’re you? Why’re you chasing the raccoon?”

The girl gawks. “What?” she blurts, the freckles across her nose seeming to trickle like rain as she grimaces. Before he can clarify, she spins around with her eyes blowing wide and scans the raccoon dog-less harbour, cursing to the sky. There is a flash of white, a terrible screech, and another lightning strike blasts open the street. Only, this time the girl throws up her staff and the bolt _veers_ towards her, engulfs her, casts her in blue, and then _cracks_ back up to the sky again without scorching her at all.

“This is _your_ fault!” she shouts, jabbing the weapon at him. Luffy is _slightly_ more wary of it now, but he continues to grin at the overwhelming display of power. This doesn't seem to amuse the girl, but the fact that she doesn't fry Luffy then and there speaks volumes about her goodwill.

“That was so _cool_!” he coos, rocking back on his heels. “Can you do it again? I wanna see it again! I kinda missed it the first time on the tower ‘cause everything was flashing and bright!”

“I can't believe that a dumbass like you is a God,” the girl - the _Goddess_ , for she couldn't be anything else - deadpans, incredulity clear in the lift of her brows. “And I wasn't aiming at _you_. But it’s not my fault; you just _attracted_ it. Which is ridiculous! It's like you're lightning rod - but for _trouble._ ”

“That’s fair,” Usopp mutters, inching his way closer. The Goddess gives him a sidelong glance but seems not to consider him much of a threat, and judging by the way Usopp edges clear of her weapon, he clearly doesn't mind.

“You're not Mischief, are you?” she demands, narrowing her eyes at Luffy’s goofy smile.

“Mischief? Nah!” Although he grins at the question, amused by the idea that _he_ could be someone as infuriating but _likeable_ as Mischief, Luffy makes the point to clamp his mouth shut before he can say anymore.

The Goddess seems unconvinced by his honesty - or his very existence, perhaps, but it’s hard to tell. “Well, whatever,” she huffs, eyeing him critically. “It's your fault it got away anyway.”

“Who?” Luffy asks.

She throws an _are you serious_ look at him. “The reindeer,” she sighs, tacking a muffled _dummy_ on the end.

“What reindeer?”

Her weapon spits a crackling noise as she glowers, but Luffy gets the impression that it would heave a thunderous _get real_ if it had the verbal capabilities. “Have _mercy_ ,” the Goddess growls. “The _raccoon dog_ , okay? The screaming raccoon dog in the pink hat.”

“Oh!” Luffy cries, having forgotten about the shrieking raccoon in his crash with the other being. _Why didn’t she just say that_ , he thinks, confused by this bright yet glumly blue deity. Her happiness must be the silver-lining of a storm because all he’s seen is thunder, rain, and grey frowns amidst hurricane sighs. “Why’re you after him?”

“None of your damn business,” snaps the lightning-thrower, barking like a storm’s forewarning clap. Usopp squeaks and ducks further behind Luffy, and the girl seems to regret her anger for the briefest of moments. Yet the indecision only lasts a second; a second long enough for Luffy to open his mouth and the Goddess to shoot him down: “Now shoo, or I'll _really_ aim for this you time.”

Luffy doesn't think she will, but he doesn't call her out on her bluff.

“Hey,” he says instead, bedazzling her with a smile. “You wanna join my crew?”

Usopp _smacks_ his face into his hands. The deep, long-suffering groan he heaves that would've made Sanji proud.

The Goddess doesn’t quite laugh in Luffy’s face, but the bemusement is clear in her expression. “You're crazy.”

“Nah, I'm Luffy! Who’re you?”

“ _Not_ crazy,” she drawls, levelling him with a glare. She shoots him down faster than Sanji had, but Luffy remains stubborn, eager to have this firecracker of a Goddess on his crew. She reminds him of Sanji in a way - they both have fire for souls and sea-blue, sky-blue, _lonely_ eyes - but this Goddess storms the realms and holds her head high to the skies, whereas Sanji defaults to the unknown depths of the ocean to hide themself from the sun.

Sanji has already joined them, even if their waves are stubborn and set in their ways. (For a God with a domain that reaches to the corners of the world, Sanji could reach further if they wanted; for themself, if they were only brave enough to try).

This Goddess is not the _same_ , but she is, arguably, in all the ways that count.

(The ones that will lead her to join this crew, that is).

“What do I get out of it?” she probes, sounding for all intents and purposes to be considering the prospect and regretting this immensely.

“We’ll help you find the raccoon!” Luffy promises, nodding at Usopp’s _will we?_

The Goddess looks just as doubtful. “Really.”

“Yeah! I'm looking for someone too! We can help each other! Hey, you know any Gods that can grow flowers and likes lighting fireplaces?”

It's a long-shot and Luffy isn't expecting his vague description to get him anywhere, but to his surprise, the Goddess _does_ ponder the question, tapping her manicure against the staff.

“One,” she replies eventually, her next words clearly an attempt at subduing Luffy’s rocketing hopes: “But I wouldn't suggest looking for Her.”

He, of course, ignores this suggestion. “What's Her name? Was She at Shells town recently? Where can I - ?”

“Help me find the reindeer first, then maybe -”

“Wait, _fireplaces_?” Usopp interrupts, apparently having needed a long while to build up his courage to speak. Both immortals turn to him, Luffy having to lift his arm to reveal Truth’s nervous expression and pointed nose. “But that kinda sounds like -”

Silver fire flares down the girl’s staff, and Usopp jumps back behind Luffy to avoid the treacherous zap. “Okay, okay, maybe it's a different God!” he squeals, cowering beneath her thunderous glare. The white of his eyes is stark against the deep bronze of his complexion, and he chuckles weakly before simpering, “I'll shut my big mouth now.”

The girl scrutinises him for a moment - as though Usopp can lie - and then nods to herself, satisfied that Truth has learnt his place - or will be keeping the identity of the flowery Goddess quiet, if that is what their bickering is about.

Luffy doesn't ask. He wants the stormy Goddess to be his friend, after all. (And though he feels a _pull_ to the elusive God or Goddess that had Visited Shells town, Luffy isn't in a hurry to find them. If they meet, they meet, and if they don't, they don't; he isn't about to test Fate or Fortune over a matter as trivial this).

(But other things - well, yes he would).

“All right, we have a deal,” says the Goddess, sticking out her hand in a business-like manner. In her other hand, her weapon bursts into a thunderbolt of flame and disappears, and Usopp swallows heavily. “I'm Nami, the Storms and the Skies.”

Luffy shakes her hand, feeling giddy. “Hi! I'm Luffy,” he introduces, as though he hasn't already declared this at the top of his lungs. “And this is Usopp! We're pirates! And so are you now - isn't that great?”

Nami sighs, awkwardly detaching herself from his hold. She seems to itch for her weapon, already regretting this monumental life decision, and Luffy laughs.

“Yeah,” deadpans the Storms. “ _Great_.”

 

 

 

Nami implores that they set sail immediately, before she _loses sight of the reindeer_ or something. Luffy, admittedly, had been more interested in her joining him than her explanation, which is probably the whole reason that the Goddess’ own boat surprises him.

“Can't you just Will yourself after him?” he asks, picking his nose absentmindedly as the two Gods watch their new companion settle into her boat.

“I can find _anybody_ ,” Nami argues, stressing this claim as if Luffy is doubting her skills - as if she has something to prove, even to this God she reluctantly calls _captain_. “Mortals are easy to track. But Gods are finicky about remaining Unnoticed.”

She mumbles the last part, reluctant to admit that there is something beyond her skill. Luffy doesn't understand why the nature of the Gods would be relevant here - or, really, why she doesn't thinking her tracking abilities are _awesome_ \- and he says as such, then asking her:

“So why’re having so much trouble with finding the raccoon?”

Nami sighs and shoots him an exasperated look. She seems to find reassurance in the fact that he’s dumber than she is, and Luffy isn't going to argue the matter, rapidly learning not to argue with her at all. “Because the _reindeer’s_ a God. But even if He wasn't, He still…” Here Nami shakes her head, casting that thought aside. “Forget it,” she says instead, waving a dismissive hand in front of Luffy and Usopp’s perplexed expressions. “And _finding_ Him isn't the problem anyway: it's everything else.”

What _everything else_ entails, Luffy doesn't get to discover. Nami ends the conversation by sailing off without them, leaving Luffy and Truth to watch her boat wobble away in a stunned silence. Their own boat sways with the ocean movement as though hasting them to follow.

Somewhere, Usopp finds the courage to bemoan: “This so isn't how I imagined my life going.”

Luffy laughs and claps him on the back, and then they settle into their the remaining sailboat to follow. Both Gods wave Loguetown and Coby goodbye - not, that is, that the boy is around to see it - but Luffy shouts after their pink-haired friend anyway, sure that they’ll meet again on the seas.

Nami passes the first few days navigating from ahead, but eventually she seems to grow bored with being alone - or frustrated at constantly checking that she's being followed, doubtful of their sailing skills - and stalks into their boat one afternoon as though claiming it for her own. Neither Luffy or Usopp question her (a little scared to) and instead they wordlessly help to tie the boats together. They have to squish themselves closer to make room, but Luffy never complains, not even when Nami steps all over him in her heels.

It's nice to know people who aren't terrified of coming near him.

He is the only one to enjoy the cramped space though.

“I hope Franky gets back to me soon,” Usopp says one afternoon, likely for the billionth time if Luffy had been keeping track. “Think of how much easier it'll be to explore and become great warriors of the sea when we actually have a _ship_.”

Luffy, lying with his feet dangling over the edge of the boat (although not actually touching the water’s surface - he learnt that lesson), throws his hands up into the air. “I bet it's gonna be awesome!” he cheers, having complete faith in Ambition despite only knowing him through Usopp’s extravagant tales. Franky seems like a pretty _super_ God, and is there really a better shipwright than the Master of All Tools himself? Luffy doesn’t think so, assured that their new ship is going to be the _best ship ever._

“Is _that_ why you recruited me?” Nami asks from Truth’s other side. She has seldom conversed with either God since departing Loguetown, but seems to enjoy Usopp’s stories well enough to _look_ interested in them. Her food and possessions are also completely _off-limits_ to her crewmates, although the same could be said for almost everything about her - her trust, her smile, and even her time-of-day. Luffy isn’t deterred by the cold shoulder, however, although Usopp does seem to be achieving a rather peculiar state of comfortable wariness in Storm’s closed-off presence.

“Yeah!” Luffy replies, shooting the Goddess a lopsided, upside-down smile. “You’re cool! You should come find Shanks and be _really awesome_ pirates with me!”

“Pirates tend to be human, you know,” Nami points out, as though she, herself, isn't technically a pirate now.

“Yeah, and?”

“And they all seem to be looking for the _One_ _Piece_ , or something,” she adds, flick of her hair asking, _well why aren't you?_ “Not whatever Shanks is.”

Luffy just laughs, having absolutely no idea what a _One Piece_ is. “Shanks is a God and He’s my friend! He’s awesome and He gave me this hat!” He waves the straw hat in front of Nami’s nose for emphasis, then asks, “What’s the One Piece?”

Storms shoves the hat out of her face, but it is Truth who answers the question first. “It’s what Gol D. Roger supposedly left behind,” he explains, to which Nami coos, _unimaginable treasure_. Truth laughs, but be it at Nami’s dazzling eyes or Luffy’s, it's hard to tell. “ _Unimaginable_ depending on your imagination,” he adds. “And Gol D. Roger is a God, you know.”

“What - really?” Storms says. “But that means…”

“He’s probably not dead!” Luffy blurts, his cackling laughter rocking the boat through the waves. Neither of his companions seem to share the hilarity, but Luffy continues laughing anyway, trying to imagine the mortals’ collective look of terror if they were to ever find out that their Pirate King was a Pirate _God_.

A Pirate God which they tried to execute, of all things. Luffy knows little of Gol D. Roger’s nature, but clearly this realm was fortunate not to meet _its_ demise when the blades struck true.

(If they did).

“I wonder if Ace knows?” Luffy muses, some of his amusement ebbing away at the thought of his brother. Ace has always hated his father for obvious reasons, but is Gol D. Roger’s continued existence one of them? “He’s gonna be so mad!”

Like - _really_ mad, now that Luffy thinks about it. He frowns, sitting up to rearrange his hat back where it belongs. Briefly, his feet skim the ocean’s surface as he wiggles into a comfortable position, but not even the thought of Sanji’s ire coaxes Luffy’s smile back.

“Heya Usopp, if He didn't die - right? - then where did He go?”

“Who cares?” Nami says, interrupting with such ferocity that the sound of Usopp’s jaw clacking shut is a gunshot in the silence. “That's not the important thing anyway, _idiot_ \- if the Pirate King was a _God_ , then His treasure might actually be _worth_ something…”

“Treasure?” Luffy says, thoughts of Gol D. Roger momentarily forgotten as the Storms and Skies rubs her hands together, her eyes shining like beli coins in the light. “Is that your dream?”

Nami laughs loud and offended, and then begins to twirl a strand of tangerine hair about a finger. “No,” she replies, huffing as the beli glint to her eyes fades into something - soft, almost. Sincere. Maybe money is something that she likes, but not the thing she necessarily _wants_. “Really, I want to map the world and everything in it - even the Gods’ realms, although they're often not _too_ pleased about that. Land is easy, but I can't map anything beneath the sea, not without entering someone else's domain. Maybe a _God’s_ treasure would be enough to grant me passage - I'd rather not take my chances with the Ocean without a bargaining chip. If I could get ahold of that treasure though…”

She trails off, scheming the dream she desperately desires. Luffy and Usopp exchange a stunned glance, although Luffy’s eyebrows are the only ones to rise.

Usopp’s, instead, drop with his frown. “I wouldn’t worry about bargaining if I were you,” he sighs, sounding strangely glum despite this _brilliant_ coincidence. “I don’t think you’ll need to bargain with Sanji.”

Nami scoffs, oblivious to Truth’s close - and perhaps, even, rather _personal_ \- relationship with Ocean. “Somehow I don't think my _lightning_ and the _sea_ will play very nice,” she grumbles, leaning a disappointed glower into a hand.

“No, really,” Truth replies in much the same tone, and Nami’s eyes lift in hope despite the bitter tinge to Usopp’s claim. “I know Them - and what They like. You'll be fine.”

“Really? Maybe I _should_ ask.” Nami ponders this for a moment, ignoring or misunderstanding Truth’s blue tone, and then laughs shortly at the idea. “Or _not_. When has asking ever gotten me anything? Sanji - you said?”

“Usopp’s got a shell that you could call Them on,” Luffy says, instantly regretting his interruption as Truth rears back at the suggestion, his uncertainty contorting into something wounded and raw. The expression only lasts a moment; by the time Nami whirls around with her eyes wide, Usopp is blinking a naive poker-face at her, and Luffy wonders if he imagined it.

But then Truth clutches the rucksack on his lap a little tighter, and Luffy thinks, _oh_.

“Not a Den-Den Mushi, surely?” Nami asks.

Usopp shifts, more uncomfortable with the conversation than where he sits. “Oh, no, but it looks a bit like one. Easier to pass Unseen,” he replies, reluctantly fishing out the shell at the intensity of Storms’ gaze. His grasp appears enough to shatter it as he holds it up for her to inspect, and Nami swipes the shell from him with none of his hesitation, apparently taking the motion as an invitation to claim it.

“How does it work? It's not a one-use thing, is it?” she asks, turning it about in her hands with quick, excited motions.

“Oh, you - err - I mean -” Usopp trails off, his voice catching as he looks upon the shell with a newfound sense of horror, the prospect of it working only once having not previously occurred to him. He seems very small when he murmurs, “I hope not,” the shell _clearly_ meaning more to him than a simple call, but for reasons that Luffy cannot fathom, he makes no move to reclaim the gift that is rightfully his.

Realising that he’s going to have to intervene, Luffy blurts, “But it's for emergencies,” telling a white-lie where Truth cannot. Panic passes over Usopp’s face, but Nami merely frowns her rising disinterest at the communicator’s pearlescent shine. She shrugs, accepting or abiding to the captain’s unwavering tone, and tosses the shell back into Usopp’s flailing hands.

Usopp, the idiot, opens his mouth to argue: “Oh - err, are you sure -?”

“Hey LOOK,” Luffy calls, hoping to cause a distraction before Truth’s kindness can hurt himself further. Both Truth and Storms squawk, their little boat creaking in protest beneath them as Luffy launches to his feet. “There's an island! An ISLAND. Are those mountains - or trees? Are those _trees_?”

“Cacti,” Nami supplies, tugging him back into his seat. “Sit _still_ \- that's Cactus Island.”

Luffy goes gladly, pleased that distraction worked. Behind him, Usopp breathes a sigh of relief and stuffs the shell back into his bag, equally relieved by their new destination.

The captain laughs. “ _Man_ , those are some really _weird_ trees.”

Preoccupation with the Ocean forgotten, Nami rolls her eyes. “They're not -”

“ _I'm gonna_ _climb one_.”

“ _Sheesh_ ,” sighs the Storms, breath cold and brief. She seems to fight the urge to zap him, and the fact that her good-will wins out is something that Luffy is grateful for. “There should be a place we can dock at the town of Whiskey Peak, so stay in the boat till then, okay?”

Luffy nods, straw hat flopping over his eyes.

“Hopefully we don't bump into any marines this time,” Usopp says, not sharing in Luffy’s enthusiasm. Nami, too, doesn't seem particularly keen to reach Whiskey Peak, which Luffy thinks is a little queer considering it's _she_ who is tracking the runaway reindeer God.

In a tone that suggests she doesn’t intend to be overheard, she mutters, “Hopefully we don't bump into _Zoro_ ,” as she steers the boat, but if that’s the explanation that Luffy is looking for, then he has to admit to having no idea what she means.

 

 

 

By the time they disembark into the empty, mid-afternoon streets of Whiskey Peak, Luffy is almost buzzing with excitement. The unusually desolate streets only seem to bother Usopp; Nami, rather, takes one long between the captain and the tallest cactus towering over the streets and sighs, _well go on then_ , waving her permission at the cactus peak. Whooping a cheer, Luffy sprints off through the town to tackle this tremendous climb without so much as looking back, Nami and Usopp spluttering in the dust he leaves behind.

Scrabbling up a cactus is more painful than Luffy thought it would be, even for him, but the view from the top is worth it. He's sure that he's going to tugging spines and needles from his backside for hours (falling down halfway was a really, _really_ big mistake), but the horizon is beautiful from here, crystal and blue and reflecting back the sun. The town isn't much to look at, but the waves and the clouds drifting sea-green and pink make up for it.

“Hey Nami! NAMI,” Luffy calls down, waving at the blob of orange in the streets below. The Goddess is tiny down there, little more than a tangerine blur bobbing along, but she stops as though she can hear him bellowing into the sky.

Maybe she can. The sea-salt breeze and the sunlight hues are her dominion, after all, and Luffy would be closer to hers than to his at the moment, just a leap away from the sky, if his domain was something he could escape, even if just by closing his eyes.

He doesn't know how long he sits up there trying to reach the clouds with his tongue (it's probably best that he fails at this; dipping his feet into the ocean is one thing, but Nami might not be impressed if he slobbers all over her or something). Whiskey Peak is nothing like Loguetown, this settlement abandoned to the shadows and the silence and the long, desert days. It's a weird place to follow a reindeer to, Luffy thinks. Doubting Nami’s navigation doesn't even occur to him though, so he wiggles to find another comfortable position (of which there are few on a cactus) and maintains his watch of the town. Usopp and Nami wander into sight occasionally, the Goddess spitting more and more lightning each time, but Luffy promised that they'd find the wayward reindeer, so find it they will.

It turns up eventually, just as Nami knew it would. If his crewmates seem tiny from so far, then the raccoon dog is _miniscule_ , scarcely perceivable beyond its neon pink top hat as it creeps through the town. Luffy cannot be sure from such a distance, but the animal God appears to be tracking something, or at the very least wandering around until it finds whatever it's looking for. Disinterested in its motives either way, Luffy considers how reckless it would be to jump the distance and then thinks, _what the hell_ , before clambering to his feet to give it a go.

It's not like it'll kill him anyway.

The same cannot be said for the reindeer, though, who shrieks to the high heavens and almost dies of fright when Luffy crashes into a building nearby. It bolts without a second thought, high-pitched yelling ringing in the captain’s ears, but Luffy only laughs and throws himself after it, following the sound through alleyways, plazas, and to the edge of the town where the cactus forest blooms. He loses it, briefly, when it realises that it's screaming is giving itself away, but Luffy is nothing is not determined and soon catches sight of it again, its weirdly long raccoon dog legs fleeing into the trees.

“Hey, wait, wait!” he bellows, flip-flops flapping from the gravel and into the dirt. The reindeer God zips behind a cactus and Luffy follows suit, only to skid to a halt as the reindeer turns back towards him, two large, childish eyes and a button-blue nose swinging around and -

Expanding and stretching and growing and _growing_ and getting very, very _big_ -

“Oh wow!” Luffy whistles, holding onto his hat as he tips his head back, watching the little reindeer morph into something more like a moose or a _bear,_ its skittish body enlarging into hulking, _monstrous_ proportions.

The reindeer God _roars_ , the wind and the earth and the wildlife trembling about them. Luffy’s only response is to shriek with glee.

“That is so COOL! Do it again, DO IT AGAIN.”

The reindeer doesn't, instead wobbling back on its colossal legs as though it was Luffy who opened his mouth and shook the world. This is a complete shame if anyone asked the captain, so he bounds forward with a cackling laugh and pointedly doesn't cease his approach when the reindeer scampers away in terror.

“Hey, hey, I'm not gonna hurt you! I'm Luffy! Who’re you?”

The reindeer emits a deafening sound of confusion, something like a grunt but powerful like a roar, and stays very, terribly still as Luffy skips forward and buries himself in its fur.

“You're really soft! That's so neat. I bet you'd be a _great_ pillow. What's your name? You can talk, right? I'm a pirate! And a God! But I like being a pirate more.”

The other God squeaks, his gigantic body shaking under Luffy’s touch. The captain pats it gently, marvelling at its fur. The reindeer slowly calms at the petting, heaving his great, furry head around to blink at Luffy’s golden smile.

“I'm - I'm the Healer,” he says, voice awfully quiet for one so large. He’s _young_ too, notably so, and Luffy cannot help but wonder what Nami wants with this terrified kid. “But - but I usually go by _Chopper_. That's what Zoro calls me.”

Something in the back of Luffy’s mind perks up at the mention of this _Zoro_ , but he cannot place why it seems familiar, having never had any noteworthy skill in remembering names.

“Why’ve you been following me?” Chopper asks, distracting Luffy from his bewilderment. “What do you want from me? Are you with that girl?”

Luffy nods into Chopper’s fur, enjoying the sensation despite the hair that pokes up his nose. “Yeah! I think Nami wants to talk with you, or something. I dunno, really. But She’s nice - kinda. Scary too. And awesome! You should come meet my crew!”

He nods in encouragement, straw hat bouncing around his neck, but while Chopper emits the air of one easily swayed, he doesn't so much as budge.

“I don't know…” he whispers - and he really _does_ whisper despite how big his _everything_ is. “That Goddess is really angry. And I said I'd meet Zoro here so…”

He twitches as Luffy pulls away, hooves clacking in preparation to bolt. Trying to remain as non-threatening as possible (laughable for someone like him), Luffy skips around to the reindeer’s bear-ish head, clasping his hands behind the wind-swept crow’s nest of his hair.

“That's fine! Zoro can come meet everyone too! Is that who you were looking for? We should go find him! Hey - how ‘bout you _both_ be our friends?”

He laughs his signature laugh and Chopper looks quite overwhelmed, for a moment, although this might be due to the rumble and the _crack_ of lightning overhead, rather than the prospect of becoming Luffy’s friend.

Without his own animal instincts (although, arguably, his are just as good), Luffy is a fraction slower at catching on to the approaching danger. Chopper swinging wildly around to face the edge of the town is a rather helping clue that something is amiss, and Luffy cranks his neck around just in time to witness the first of Nami’s lightning strikes shattering into the ground.

At the sight of the Skies’ white-hot temper, Chopper _shrinks_ \- shrinks to far smaller than he was, teddy-bear sized now and tottering on two legs instead of four. His hat is much too large for him now, but he squashes it in between his antlers and flees, the air where he had been standing cracking with the fury of the Storms.

“Wait, dammit!” Nami thunders, beauty almost ablaze as she skids after him. “I need your help!”

For a second Luffy thinks she's calling to _him_ , but then Chopper pauses, almost toppling over with the momentum of his sprint, and Nami is swift to exploit his deer-like stupor, pouncing on him before he can bolt. Chopper _wails_ , kicking and flailing in her clasp, and if that wasn't enough to twist Luffy’s gut with regret (why _is_ Nami after Chopper? Is it true that she needs his help?) then the bellow that rises above them all is, a voice of mountains and earth and steady, overwhelming power howling out:

“OI,” comes the holler, and something deep within Luffy resonates with the sound, as though the very core of his being, his power, his _domain_ wishes to echo back the shout to whoever is calling. “DROP HIM!”

Nami’s squeaks a peculiarly small sound and whirls around in such of some salvation. “Oh _shit_ ,” she hisses, eyes blowing wide. “ _Shit_.”

“Zoro!” Chopper yelps, wiggling furiously Nami’s grasp. She _shushes_ him, panicked and pale, but the little reindeer only hollers louder. “ZORO!”

A figure comes crashing from the forest, throwing a body built sturdy with earthy browns and reds and embellished in green towards them. Gold-tinted, the deity hurtles from the trees with an earthquaking pace, and though Luffy knows nothing of the God, if this is Zoro, then there _is_ one thing about him that cannot be denied:

He’s _angry_.

And Nami - rightfully - runs.

“YOU!” Zoro bellows, two dark, almost endlessly, ceaselessly dark eyes widening at the sight of the Goddess high-tailing it away. It’s recognition, Luffy concludes, just as he concludes that he's _clueless_ on what to do as his crewmate-cum- _kidnapper_ flees with a squirming God under one arm and another barrelling after her. On one hand, Nami is under his protection now, and on the other, Chopper’s pretty sweet and clearly _terrified_ of being swept away by the Storms, and so Luffy grits his teeth as Zoro belts out another enraged yell and gives chase, the long, divine pleats and creasing ends of his robes muddying with each quaking stride.

A colossal rumble of thunder implores Luffy to follow. Overhead, the sky encloses the town in a lightning-spitting night. He clambers onto the rooftops as the first fiery bolt smashes down, and for a moment the world is white and hot and _searing_ before him. Yelling rises up from the distance, echoing the thunder warning for more, and then another strike hits the ground - two more, then three - casting the town in the glow of the Gods that fight within it, tempers threatening to wreck it to ruin.

Whiskey Peak begins to burn.

(Will they ask _who Visited_ , or will they turn a blind eye to the forces that battled in their land?)

Luffy clutches his hat and makes for the dock, hoping that Usopp is far from the fray. Whether Truth will help or hinder Nami’s escape is unknown - admittedly, Luffy doesn't know what _he'll_ do - but there's no time to hesitate as the storm rages through the town. Lightning lights his way to the coast, the howling wind urging him on. The sea is vast and dark, waves calm despite the turmoil of the town, and Luffy launches himself into the street just as smoke begins to pour from the dock. Gravel skidding under his flip-flops, he sprints for their little, _burning_ boat, spying Usopp waving his arms frantically from the shore.

“Luffy! Luffy! What is _going_ on? Nami just - our boat -!”

“Where are they?” he blurts, steadying Truth’s panicked flailing. “Was anyone hurt?”

Usopp shakes his head, but he seems unsure, curly hair frazzled in the static air. “She had the reindeer! And I thought I saw -!”

“HEY,” comes a shout, Nami’s voice like a shriek of lightning and fire. The two Gods spin around to see her charging towards them, silver staff glowing white and blue in her hand. Just a few paces away is Zoro, glowering an enraged scarlet and seeming notably more disheveled than before, bruises and dirt marring the golden tinge of the deity’s clothes and skin.

When Luffy and Usopp only blink, equally thrown by Nami’s _furious_ expression, the charging Goddess growls, “Help me or _move_ , you morons!”

 _Move_ is apparently the answer. Usopp shoves Luffy to the ground before he can decide what to do, and Nami _vaults_ over them as though she's dancing on air. Silhouetted in the next lightning flash, pale, amber edges lost to the stormy sky, she holds Chopper tighter, grips her staff and raises it up the sky.

Zoro roars, “DON'T - !” as Nami steps out over the water and -

Blazes - cracks - _burns_ and -

Lightning flashes and she’s gone.

Luffy whistles despite himself (despite the fact that Nami and Chopper seemingly just _exploded_ ) but he is the only deity present to feel awe at the display of her power - the remnants of it, sparks fizzling over the sea. Chopper’s hulking companion (yet a companion with poise, too, a celestial capability no doubt - broad shouldered and sharp eyed, but with a muted air in this realm, Zoro’s very demeanour a contradiction, heavy-footed but gentle with each stride) doesn’t share the sentiment over Nami’s awesome ability, leaning right over the dock to yell:

“HEY, FUCK YOU! GIVE ME BACK MY - !”

A single, vehement wave comes _surging_ up from the dead-calm of the sea and _drowns_ the infuriated deity. Zoro coughs and splutters onto the dock, complexion waterlogged and dripping icy seawater on top of burning a scorching, maddened red. With a dog-like shake of his hair, he curses at the oddly pacific shore.

“FUCK’S SAKE.”

“Yep, it’s Zoro all right,” Usopp mutters, more to himself than Luffy, beside him, who still hasn’t any idea of what’s going on. Rolling his eyes, Usopp scrubs a hand over his face until his expression is one of sympathy, and then sighs before approaching Zoro, half-drowned on the dock.

“Hey,” he calls gently, holding out a hand to the sopping-wet, understandably miserable looking deity. “I’d say _it’s good to see you_ , but…”

Zoro blinks through the meadow-hued strands of his (her? their?) fringe, and raises one hand of calloused skin and scars to unpeel the hair from his eyes. “Usopp?” he asks, tilting a strong jaw-line and a fierce, glowering brow towards Truth, two thin, golden earrings tinkering from one ear.

“Yeah - hi,” Usopp says, helping his friend up. He, too, notices the earrings, but he frowns where Luffy only had eyes of delight at the delicate, little things. “You’re missing an earring,” he adds, pointing as though the grumbling deity has any in his other ear, and Zoro’s hand follows the gesture to investigate the empty piercing.

“Shoot,” the immortal grumbles, expression darkening to match the smudges of mud and bruises on his face. “I gave it to Chopper so that He could find me, but I wasn’t expecting that _goddamn witch_ to come out of nowhere and -”

“Ah,” murmurs Truth, scratching his nose with a sheepish expression. “About that.”

Luffy bounds over, taking that as his cue to introduce himself. “Hi! I’m Luffy! You’re Zoro, right?”

Zoro blinks at Luffy’s sunny disposition. How his meadow-green hair is plastered to his forehead detracts from his previous ferocity. He doesn't so much as twitch to shake Luffy’s hand, standing steadfast and miserable.

“You’re the kid who was with Chopper.”

Luffy nods, giving his hand an inviting wave. “Uh-huh.”

Zoro narrows his eyes, considering the straw-hatted God for a moment. His gaze flicks down to Luffy’s hand. He seems unsure on how to approach this merry, straw-hatted God. After a long, unwavering moment in which the two Gods stare it out, Luffy’s smile against Zoro’s glower, Zoro seems to come to a decision.

“I was wondering when I was going to bump into you,” he says - whatever that means. Luffy tilts his head, asking _really?_ and Zoro replies with a concurring sound. “Mmhmm. You and your human friend lit a candle for me.”

 _Not-Spring!_ Luffy realises, face alighting with glee. This is the God who was at Shells Town - who they missed, ever so briefly, and left that flowering grave behind him. This is the God that Luffy’s been _looking for!_

(If Coby were here he would definitely be freaking out. _Kidnapping a child and making an enemy of the one you're searching for is a terrible way, Luffy, a really terrible way of making friends!_ )

“Oh!” Luffy cries, finally dropping his hand. Now he wants to hug Zoro (hug him and say, _hey, that tree you grew was awesome!_ ) but from the reaction to the handshake, he doesn't think Zoro will be particularly receptive to that. “Was that okay? Coby was worried about it. I said it was probably fine, ‘cause I didn’t think you’d be fussed - were you fussed? I could always light something else.”

“Like a boat?” Zoro grumbles, gesturing to the crackling sailboat just down the dock. The drawling tone makes Luffy worry that he's being serious for a moment, but then Zoro shakes his head. “Nah, forget it. My sister thought it was hilarious, anyway.”

“She would,” Truth says, and Zoro - finally, albeit briefly - cracks a smile. It only lasts a second, but Luffy feels oddly pleased at the sight of it tugging up Zoro’s wet, bruised purple jaw.

“So what’d you want with Chopper then, eh?” Zoro asks, crossing his arms. He tilts his head, earrings chinking as though taunting the other Gods, and something _dangerous_ settles about him, an aura not unlike Luffy’s own. “And where am I gonna have to go to get Him back?”

He says this as though he has no idea who stands against him, as though he could take anybody down, as though he would, for Chopper, without hesitation or care for Luffy’s beaming smile and the power at the captain’s disposal.

“Ah, well, we don’t actually know what Nami wanted,” Truth admits, whistling innocently. He laughs his squeaky laugh and scratches his nose, utterly intimidated by Zoro’s level glare.

While what Usopp says may be true, Luffy definitely knows what _he_ wants now, and he jumps up and down to announce his exciting decision. “I want Chopper to be my friend! And you, too! Hey, hey, you wanna be my friend? You should join my crew!”

 _Are you serious_ , asks the furrow of Zoro’s brow; _is he serious,_ it asks the flabbergast noise that drops from Truth’s mouth.

“Your crew,” Zoro echoes - and why is it everyone looks so taken aback when Luffy asks?

Luffy nods, clapping his hands together. “Yeah!”

“Which Nami is on.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Who just ran off with Chopper.”

Some of the enthusiasm ebbs away from Luffy’s bouncing. “Err…” he mumbles, the question giving him pause. He taps one finger against his chin, but no matter how hard he ponders, he can't think of a better response than: “ _Yeah_!”

“No,” Zoro snaps, mercilessly shooting him down. Luffy whines, adopting the puppy-dog eyes, and the God with the golden hues groans. “Don’t _pout_ at me - are you stupid? I need to get Chopper back!”

Luffy _knows_ that, but he doesn't know what that has to do with Zoro refusing to join. “We’ll help you!”

“Oh heavens,” Usopp mutters.

Zoro barks a laugh, harsh and rumbling earthquake low. “You think I want _your_ help?”

“Well - no,” Luffy admits, because he's already sure of Zoro’s nature - his mountainous conviction and his steady, oak-old pride. “But we’re going after Nami ‘cause She’s crew, so we should work together.”

“Amazing,” Zoro deadpans, sounding anything but.

“He means it,” Usopp supplies, and Zoro scoffs a startled breath. “Really.”

“ _Unbelievable_.” But with Truth’s words ringing out, Zoro eases from his defensive stance. “Right then - _how_ d’you suppose we go after Her if we don't know where She's going?”

Luffy hasn't actually thought that far, but luckily for him, Usopp is brains enough for them both.

“Can you use the earring Chopper’s got?” he suggests, but Zoro’s mouth twitches unhappily.

“I don’t have His sense of smell,” he grumbles, shaking his apple-green head. (Luffy wonders if it could _grow_ apples, or maybe blossom with cherry pinks and whites). “He finds me, not the other way around.”

“Oh,” says Usopp. “That’s not surprising.”

Zoro’s face _burns_. “Shut _up_ -”

“Then we’ll just have to check all the islands around here!” Luffy interrupts, kind of liking the scarlet glow on Zoro’s face but appreciating that it isn't helping Chopper any. He thinks it's a good suggestion but Usopp only looks doubtful, and Zoro returns to grumbling with worry rather than his weirdly endearing embarrassment.

“Luffy, She’s the _Skies_ ,” Usopp says. “She might not have a limit on how far She can travel in one go.”

Well that's _awesome_ , but Luffy keeps his mouth shut about it this time. “We could still try!”

“We’ll have to get another boat,” Usopp adds, expression scrunching with thought. “Unless you’re happy with Willing -”

“ _No_ ,” Luffy says, knowing what his friend is going to say. “I want to travel by sea.”

Usopp’s hands shoot up; _all right_ , his surrender seems to say. Yet, despite his reluctance, he continues to ponder the matter, willing to go along with his captain’s desires without complaint, suggesting, “I could try getting ahold of Franky again?”

Luffy makes to nod - only, another thought occurs to him. “What about Sanji?” he asks with a hint of wariness, recalling the almost-argument with Nami on the boat. “Couldn’t They get us across the sea?”

“They’d definitely complain,” Usopp considers, which isn’t exactly a _no_. His twirls a curl of his hair, looking nervously between Luffy and Zoro, his indecisiveness deepening at whatever thought he gleams from Zoro’s glower.

“Good luck trying to get that twit to help _me_ ,” Zoro grumbles, and Usopp sighs as though that was his worry all along.

“Eh?” Luffy coos, unable to understand whatever relationship Zoro and Sanji have, but eager to find out. “You know Sanji too?” he gasps; _what a small world,_ he thinks.

“Met ‘em a few times, yeah. We don’t really get along ‘cause They’re a -”

Usopp coughs, shooting Zoro a strange look, and though Luffy has no hopes of interpreting it, Zoro swiftly backtracks at its intensity, expression flashing from vexed to smug.

“Oh, finally got that stick out of Their arse and stopped dancing around did They?” he asks, grinning around the arrogant drawl.

“Err, no, the dancing is still very much a _thing,_ ” Usopp mutters, flustering somewhat at his friend’s widening smirk. “But I could ask Them - about helping us, I mean, not the _stick_ \- not that there _is_ a stick, I mean - _oh_ , you know what I mean -”

Zoro laughs, deep and rumbling and earthy and old, and this time it’s Usopp’s turn to blush.

“I’ll call Them,” whispers Truth, rummaging through his backpack for the shell (for a distraction, maybe, and salvation from this mortification). Who knows if he finds the latter as he pulls out the device - Zoro’s smirk definitely suggests that this matter isn't going to lay down and die - and Truth fumbles with the backpack’s drawstring as he shoves the shell under an arm. Then, giving up with the bag, he shuffles over to the shoreline with Luffy following curiously at his heels, and dunks the shell into the waves, the foamy saltwater lapping over his skin.

Luffy blinks, but nothing spectacular happens.

“Um -” Usopp begins, dungarees soaking where he kneels. “Err, Sanji, I hope you can hear this because we’re stuck on an island and could - um - really use your help? I’m not really sure how this thing works and I don’t want to interrupt your cooking or anything -”

A wave rolls back, the _whoosh_ of the sea over the sand the only sound. Luffy tilts his head, wondering how they're supposed to hear the Ocean’s response with the weird shell submerged -

“Oh they’ll manage five minutes without me,” comes Sanji’s grumble from - _somewhere_ , the tide sighing up over the dock. As one, Luffy and Usopp blink, staring perplexed expressions at the shell and the sea, and behind them Sanji coughs and asks in their breathless tone, “Where the hell are we?”

They quite literally heave themself out of the sea, body swirling green then blue then black and dripping salty champagne hair, and Luffy and Usopp scream.

“Don't make me drown you,” Sanji cautions, their stoic expression as utterly composed as their suit despite emerging from the icy surge of the sea.

Luffy snickers as Usopp gasps and catches his breath. “You already tried that!”

“I'll do it properly this time,” the Ocean warns, flicking ashes into the watery depths. “But seriously, what did you want?”

“Oh, err, our boat is wrecked and we need your help,” Usopp explains shortly, wiping a tear (of terror?) from his eye. He stands, pulling Luffy up from the shore, and he and Sanji both glance briefly at the shell shining in his hands.

“Did you come _out_ of this?” Usopp asks, squinting dubiously.

“What - _no_! Come on, long-nose, _really_?”

“It's a _valid question_.”

Sanji rolls their eyes, unable to argue with that. “What happened to your boat then?”

“Nami set it on fire; we need to go after Her.”

Saying that the Ocean _perks up_ would be like describing a puppy begging for scraps as _satiable_. “Nami?”

“She’s crew,” Truth states. “Goddess of Storms and Skies.”

Sanji emits a weird, wobbly noise, and Luffy has to stuff his fist into his mouth to smother the sound of his laugh. “I bet She's _beautiful_.”

Usopp doesn't confirm or deny this assumption, but then he probably just knows better than to argue with Sanji over women. “She destroyed our boat.”

“Beautiful _trouble_.”

“And She almost levelled a town and kidnapped a kid,” Usopp deadpans, and this does give Sanji pause.

“She kidnapped someone's child?” Ocean repeats, mouth twisting to give the appearance that they have begun to chew on their cigarette. They peer around for the hysterical parent that their group must have acquired, only to stop when they notice Zoro standing there.

“Oh,” they say. “It’s you.”

Zoro’s upper lip rises; he shifts into an aggressive defence once again. “Shut the _hell_ up, curly brow. Can you help us get Chopper back or not?”

Sanji laughs as though they can't quite believe what they’re hearing and turns to smirk at Truth. “Are you sure our beautiful maiden wasn't _rescuing_ the kid?”

Zoro _growls_ , the ground beneath him snapping with tree bark and leaves of angry reds. Luffy emits an astonished _whooaa?_ as the earth churns beneath Zoro’s feet, and Usopp’s hands fly up to pacify the bickering deities.

“Sanji, please. Can you help us?”

Sanji clicks their tongue, the sound popping like rain on the ocean waves. “What do I get out of helping this mosshead?” they ask, poking a thumb towards the God growing roses and thorns.

“Happy feelings?” Usopp tries, his grumble overshadowed by the worldly weight of Zoro’s heartfelt interrupting _please_.

Their boat crackles in the distance, smoke pouring into the sky. Sanji is very, very quiet for a moment, and the sea before them swirls into serenity as the Ocean sighs.

“You better not be Calming me, bastard,” they huff, and Zoro scoffs, the sound affronted if it were coming from anybody else.

“I'm _not_ ,” he insists, squishing some of the new plant-life with a heel. “Like I could Calm the goddamn _tide_ anyway, you volatile piece of - ”

“Okay!” Usopp cries, looking all sorts of _done_ with this conversation (with this day, with how his life is going). “Maybe we should turn it down a notch!”

Sanji just continues to smirk. “No, wait, I think there was a compliment underneath all that whin -”

“Hey,” Luffy calls, meaning _stop_ , meaning _we don't have time for this_ , meaning _this isn’t funny anymore_ , and the argument ceases immediately. The captain attempts a smile, resting his hands behind his head and appreciating the feel of straw he finds there, and the three Gods quieten at his command.

Luffy reminds them, “Nami and Chopper need our help,” and they all shift self-consciously, Usopp going as far as to blush.

Sanji sighs, admitting defeat (or accepting, maybe, that they really are a nice person). “Sheesh, fine, I’ll help,” they say, pointedly _not_ looking at Zoro as he continues to squash the flowerbed. “Where are you trying to get to?”

Zoro pauses in his endeavour, foot centimetres away from the last of the petunias, and grumbles something that is most definitely sarcastic and rude.

“That,” Usopp eventually says, wavering at the sight of Ocean’s rising eyebrow. “Is actually a _really_ good question.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review as you go!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Chapter edited on 16 APRIL 2018: minor edits and some dialogue adjustments]

After grumbling, cursing, and calling the three stranded Gods _idiots_ , Ocean departs for the Baratie to inform the staff that their sous-chef won't be returning post-haste. _Zeff’s been trying to kick Them out for years_ , Usopp confines once the shore of Whiskey Peak settles into seawater, sand, and normality again, and Luffy snickers, saying _Sanji’s crew_ , and Truth laughs as he realises that his captain was right all along.

“The Kingdom of Alabasta is not far from here,” Sanji informs the trio when they return, reforming translucent to blonde and smoker’s grey from the ocean waves. “The waters are restless there; it might be worth checking out.”

Luffy _ooh-ahhs_ appropriately, but he is the only one. Zoro appears unimpressed by the increasing unknowns in Nami’s intentions, and Usopp’s brow furrows as the Ocean dismisses the varying reactions, turning instead to the dock, the beach, and the final crackling cinders of the boats there.

“It's a desert island,” Truth stresses - which is news to Luffy, but certainly not the deterrent that Truth seems to want it to be.

“It'll be fine,” Sanji insists, waving a nonchalant hand. “Don't look so worried, long-nose, I can get you that far.”

“You don't _have_ to…”

“You asked, didn't you? I'm not just going to leave you here, dumbass. Quit worrying before I decide to stop being nice.”

Luffy’s not sure that will ever happen, to be honest, and if Usopp’s expression is an accurate judge, neither does he. Curly hair wobbling as he pushes a hand through it, Usopp goes to argue - goes to say… something - but Sanji cuts him off, their trail of thought unending as they consider the logistics of the sea.

“But you were right, you know,” they continue coolly, sounding as though hiding the _fondness_ in their tone is really quite a challenge. They glance at Usopp here, sole swirly eyebrow prompting something like _come on_ , _cheer up_ , or _stop worrying idiot_ , and Usopp rolls his eyes as if he actually cannot believe he companies such a moron.

“We _are_ going to need a bigger boat,” Sanji concludes, and with another wave of their hand, firm this time, a flick, a beckoning gesture through the salty air, the ocean begins to churn at their command.

The shore drags out, the _whoosh_ of tides against the beach like the sand and stone breathing deep, and the ships harboured at the dock creak and clunk and bow as the water recedes, foam and waves rushing back. Then - silence, even the gulls ushered far away, before the sea comes surging back with the weight of something colossal approaching through the currents, its form a great shadow surging swiftly through the blue.

“Err, Sanji,” Usopp attempts, voice wavering as he reaches for the Ocean’s suit jacket. Luffy coos in wonder, stretching up on his tiptoes as though the added few inches will reveal whatever vessel Sanji has called before them, and even Zoro makes an inquisitive noise, although he doesn't lean forward lest he anger the ocean waves again.

What emerges from the waters is less of a vessel and more of a _monster_ , and Luffy roars back at the gigantic animal as its ten-tonne head rises up from the foamy sea.

 _Du-dah_! Sanji’s expression seems to shine, the saltwater-freckled God looking quite chuffed with themself. The turtle - if it could be called that - towers over them like the cacti of the island, unapproachable and dark, dangerous green, and the three other Gods boggle at it with varying degrees of astonishment.

“ _That's_ your idea of a boat?” Zoro drawls, unmoved by the giant as the trees are unmoved by the rain, the snow, and the chill all winter long.

The same cannot be said for Truth, who squeaks half-hidden behind Sanji’s reedy figure. “That's a _Sea King_.”

Only Luffy shares the Ocean’s cheer. “THAT’S AWESOME. Sanji, Sanji, call another one, call another one!”

Zoro scoffs, eyeing the turtle with a steady consideration. The Sea King blinks back, expressing a countenance just as unmoved as the earthy God before it.

“One is enough,” Zoro decides.

“That mentality never stopped you, did it?” Sanji fires back, and as Zoro rolls his eyes, even Usopp laughs.

Luffy has no idea what they're talking about, but, truly, he has little care. There's a Sea King _right there_ (Sanji just _summoned a Sea King_ and it's _watching them_ with it's monstrous eyes and teeth and _face_ ) and that's by far the most amazing thing he's ever seen.

(Apart from Coby’s conviction and Usopp’s Speech and Nami’s lightning and Chopper’s gigantic transformation of course).

“Hop on then,” Sanji says, motioning to the turtle’s shell of mountaintops. Luffy does so immediately, clambering up the cliff-side with a fearless enthusiasm, hollering all the while, but the others fail to follow suit.

“I'm not so sure…” Usopp mumbles, and Zoro, too, seems to hesitate at the invitation, unwilling to tread into Sanji’s treacherous domain.

“Come on!” Luffy calls, encouraging them with a wave of his hat. “This is AWESOME. Is it gonna take us all the way to Alabasta? Hey, hey, turtle, you gonna take us all the way to Alabasta?”

The Sea King just swings its terrible head, blinking slow as though confused by the boy who clambers carefree over its mammoth shape. Luffy just smiles at it and treks closer to its bewildered stare, aware that it’s _he_ who is the monster here.

“Oh heavens,” Usopp mutters, resigning himself to the climb. “I might need a boost. Or a harness. Or maybe you could just carry me -”

He glances to Zoro helplessly. Then the ground beneath him _moves_ , an earthquake short and sharp beneath him, a surge of sand and stone rising up to fling him into the air. Usopp screams and somersaults and flails like a fish through the sky, and at once the waves shoot up to cushion his landing, something like a hand forming briefly before cascading back into the depths.

“Asshole,” Sanji grumbles, levelling a glare at the God with the laugh of rock and solid, grounding tones.

Zoro only smirks, pleased with himself. “Caught Him, didn't you?”

Now on the Sea King’s back, Usopp wheezes, looking notably less pleased with this turn of events. “If it were possible to die of embarrassment…” he mumbles, shaking water from his clothes as Luffy offers him a hand. He takes it, only sighing as the straw-hatted God snickers, and down on the beach, Sanji thrusts out a hand to halt the last of their party before Zoro can make to climb the turtle.

Zoro glowers. “I'm going,” he growls, despite the apprehension he still regards the Sea King with.

Sanji gives him a stern look, but it’s softened by more than just their fringe. There’s an understanding between them here, in this moment, despite the bickering and challenge, and Luffy smiles as he watches his (kind of) friends stare it down.

“Of course you are, dipshit. But don't think this means you can wander over _my_ ocean whenever you want, got it?”

“Still pissy about the flowers, eh?” Zoro retorts, more amused than offended by whatever restriction the Ocean has insisted he abide. “Fine, I wouldn't expect anything else.”

Sanji seems unsure whether this is something to be believed. “Good.”

“Uh-huh.”

“No _funny_ business.”

“ _Uh-huh_.”

“Pair of idiots,” Usopp grumbles, wringing out a sleeve, and Luffy laughs.

“What you going by these days anyway?” Sanji asks, seeming to take Zoro’s honesty as a truce. They squint their visible eye, seawater scepticism reflecting back Zoro’s palette of peaceful greens.

“I still don't give a shit,” Zoro grunts, shrugging as though to soften his tone. “ _He's_ fine.”

“All right. And if you get sea-sick…”

“It'll be _your_ goddamn fault,” Zoro insists, adding a silent _yeah?_ for good measure, sharp eyebrows creasing. “Come on, are you gonna let me past or what?”

Sanji huffs at the bark but relents, watching Zoro with a fierce expression as he wobbles onto the Sea King, a hazardous climb of ivy up a mountain of a wall.

“I don't get sea-sick!” Luffy feels the need to clarify, throwing his hands up into the air. He laughs, dancing over the shell to make room for his friends’ ascent; Zoro kind of belly-flops over the last ridge, but Sanji moves as Nami had across the sky, entirely in their element as the Sea King bows its head, welcoming Ocean aboard.

“That's because _you're_ not connected to the ground,” Sanji explains, smirking at Zoro and Usopp’s envious expressions. “Unlike moss-head over here.”

They gesture a thumb over at Zoro, whose skin is already paling into a remarkable shade of unease as he tries to tuck himself into a non-existent corner.

“Is Zoro gonna be okay?” Luffy asks, shuffling over. He squishes himself into Zoro’s side, taking both worry and amusement from how Nami’s forest-born opponent slowly curls in on himself, face churning to match the colour of his hair. He groans an awful sound and his stomach gurgles in kind, and Luffy laughs at the echo and reaches out, poking Zoro’s tummy to make the noise again.

Zoro growls and a sensation like air or water flutters up Luffy’s arm - to his chest, like a wave or a flower bed swaying in the breeze, and then seems to unfurl there with great, sunflower petals that yearn and burn in the sun. It is not a particularly pleasant feeling, nor is it a painful one, but it does prompt Luffy to pause and stare at this forest-green God before him, a sense of recollection alighting in the back of his mind.

There is something about Zoro that… calls to him.

(Something that has pulled Luffy on from Shells Town, or maybe even before).

“What did you say you were the God of?” Luffy asks, drumming his fingertips along Zoro’s thigh, skin tingling as though it is static that pulls them together.

“Didn't,” Zoro responds, and as the waters about the Sea King give a terrible lurch, he groans again, cursing under his breath. “Can you _not_ poke me?”

Luffy retreats, wondering if Zoro feels the sensation too, or if the sea-sickness has overwhelmed it. “Man, Zoro’s feeling really bad!”

“Leave me alone,” he mumbles pitifully, and sulking off with a twinge of guilt, Luffy goes to sit by Usopp instead.

Truth is watching their steady departure from the island, the Sea King eager to fulfil Ocean’s wishes, but he takes his eyes from the burning town - the wreckage they have left - when Luffy flops down beside him.

“Shouldn’t we have put the fires out?” Usopp asks, addressing the sort-of-crew at large but still, somehow, managing to single out the only watery God present.

Sanji shakes their head, replying, “Not unless you want me to flood the town. It's better off burning.”

“Nami could do it,” Luffy says, which is a moot point, _really_ , considering Storms isn't here to do so, but he feels the need to defend her anyway.

“She lit them,” Usopp reminds him.

 _Well, yeah_ , Luffy thinks, but this doesn't change the fact that she could still put them out, if she wished, and he argues as such.

“Harvest could too,” Zoro adds, raising his head just enough to partake in the debate. “But I dunno where She is. Haven't seen Her for a - err - _ugh_ -”

“Please don't throw up,” Sanji despairs, clearly regretting tugging this earth-bound God from the beach. “Usopp, tell me -”

“He's not going to throw up,” Truth says, cringing at the noises bubbling from their sickly passenger. “He's not - really, He's err.... okay, yeah, He's gonna be sick.”

Very softly, a wail of _nooooooo_ can just be heard over the retching from the back of the Sea King.

 

 

 

Gold lands stretch far from Alabasta’s rocky shore, a horizon deserted to sandy waves and deserts as far as the eye can see. Clouds gather in place of the midday sun, a stormy grey tempest preying like vultures in the plains. They are Nami’s storms without a doubt, rain-less but thundering and calling them on.

Zoro greets the desert land with nothing less than pure reverence, digging his toes into the beach like a tree planting roots, appreciating the flow of sand over his shoes. Luffy coos at the heat and plops on his hat, Usopp following with a hand shielding his eyes. Only Sanji fails to follow, perched up high on the Sea King’s crown, and Luffy almost doesn't notice them up there, lost to a backdrop of blue and gold.

“Oi Sanji, you coming?”

This time it is the Ocean who hesitates, reluctant to trespass on a domain that is not their own, and even Zoro takes a moment to look befuddled from where he is stretched out over the sand.

“Deserts,” Sanji clips, somehow making that sound like _fuck_. “Not my biggest fan.”

“Zoro’ll let you on,” Luffy argues, giving the Labrador of a God a questioning look as Zoro hoists himself up from the earth. How stupidly _dorky_ Zoro looks shaking sand from his hair does lessen the severity of Luffy’s expression, but the God’s dark eyes just _dare_ the straw-hatted deity to laugh.

“I don't think Zoro’s in charge here, Luffy,” Usopp interrupts, replying instead as his gaze casts out to the thundering sky. “Something’s wrong - can't you feel it?”

“It's not just the waters,” Ocean adds, clicking and clacking their lighter with a nervous rhythm. “It’s something else.”

“Conflict,” Luffy and Zoro confirm, two domains resounding together as one. And yet only Zoro smiles, presence becoming something _more_ in that moment, like earth surging and bulging at the edges to exist on a mountainous plane far above the moral necessities of men, and Luffy can only contradict him - _complement_ him - instead twisting his expression into a frown.

(They tip the scales together, a golden needle swinging back and forth. They are an equilibrium only fools desire to reach).

“Do you think that's why Nami took Chopper?” Usopp asks - not that Luffy has any idea what the reindeer God could do for a situation like this.

“Dunno,” Zoro admits, huffing a frustrated breath. He mirrors Truth’s look of concern - or he does so relatively, unwilling to reduce himself to such a flustered state. “Chopper only deals with the aftermath. Whatever’s happening out there hasn't stopped yet. And we don't even know if He's _on_ this island.”

“If you are referring to the young Healer who calls Himself _Chopper_ , then you will find Him in the palace,” a voice informs them, and Luffy is nodding and cheering, _hey cool, thanks lady!_ before the rest of his crew have even finished yelling about the woman who now stands among them. She smiles as though she is _entertained_ rather than pleased with Luffy’s charm, and Luffy grins back, noting her hair of shadows, the way that her gaze examines his crew in turn, and how her mouth contorts into a softness that could never reach her eyes.

“W - who are you?” Usopp warbles, leaping back towards the coast as though seeking comfort in the shadow of the Sea King’s gigantic body. The Sea King is the only member of the group to remain unfazed by the stranger’s appearance, but upon its crown, Ocean’s joyous appreciations of the woman’s grace and beauty make up for this.

“You may call me _Promise_ ,” she answers, appearing to debate her honesty as her eyes dart between the captain and his not-quite-crew. “I have no need to hear your introductions - I know who you are.”

“I’m Luffy!” the straw-hatted God says anyway, and something softer than annoyance but not quite amusement flashes across the Goddess’ face before Zoro interjects a growl.

“How’d you know Chopper?” Zoro barks, serenity twisting into suspicion as the woman turns a not-smile towards him, a single piece of gold held between two artful fingers. The four Gods start, Luffy’s gaze flicking to the empty piercing in Zoro’s ear.

The shadowy woman raises her brow. “Will this suffice as proof of our meeting?”

If anything, her audacity only augments Zoro’s anger. “How do I know you didn't just _take_ it from Him?”

The Goddess smiles something terrible. “You do not,” she replies, rolling the earring between her fingers.

Luffy frowns as well, worry for the little God’s wellbeing replacing his intrigue. Promise is a Goddess to be wary of, he’s becoming sure of this, but even with her riddles, smiles, and the threat of Chopper’s safety in her hands, Luffy doesn’t want to think that she is a _bad person_.

It’s hard to tell if Zoro shares this appraisal. “You're asking me to _trust you_?”

“Certainly not,” she says, chortling a more genuine laugh this time. “I am _Promise_ , not _Truth_. I would never ask you to trust me.”

She glances at Usopp for a fraction of a second with a gaze keen, and the nervous God squeaks but stands firm in the sand, the ocean tide washing over his feet. This only seems to entertain Promise further, who then sweeps her attention back across the crew to focus on Luffy - and not Zoro - as though it is the captain’s answer that she truly seeks.

Luffy says nothing, aware that it is not his place to sway Zoro’s decision.

(Unaware that it is _only_ his place to do so).

“All right,” Zoro decides, expression guarded as he gestures for the earring. His face reveals nothing, thoughts unfathomable, but the beckon of his hand is perhaps a little too fast for one who has accepted the rules of Promise’s game. “Hand it over.”

When Promise laughs, keeping the earring far out of reach, neither Luffy or Zoro are surprised. Yet they manage to hold their tongues until the Goddess has clarified her terms, both Gods convinced that there _is_ something she wants, if not their trust.

“I ask for an exchange,” she says, twiddling the earring. “It is only fair, is it not? Something of equivalent value.”

Zoro sneers. “To what - _Chopper_?”

“To the information I am giving you,” Promise corrects, unmoved by his anger. “But yes - to your dear companion, should you have something to offer.”

Which Zoro _doesn’t_ \- if the way he opens and then shuts his mouth is any indication. The forest-green God could offer himself, if nothing else, Luffy knows, but there is no guarantee that Promise would take that offer if she is looking for something in particular. _But what?_ he thinks, clamping his tongue between his teeth as anxiety begins to fluster his crew, _what does She want?_

“How ‘bout a hat?” he asks, interrupting with a sweep of Shanks’ beloved hat from his crown. He holds it out with a beaming smile, marvelling as he always does with the scratch of straw and age-old memories beneath his fingertips, and then snickers at Zoro’s and Promise’s mirroring expressions of astonishment.

“Is this any good?” Luffy encourages, giving the hat a wobble. Promise reaches for it with a contemplative quiet, and Zoro, too, seems to jerk in the hat’s direction as though confused by its value, its equivalence to Chopper, or perhaps - perhaps _aware_ as only he can be of what it is that Luffy offers.

“Err, Luffy -” Usopp goes to argue, falling silent with a stuttering breath as Promise flips the hat over in her hands.

She hums, trailing her fingers along the ruby red ribbon, following its fraying edge all around the brim. “A hat in exchange for an earring?” she asks, eyes appearing to darken as she catches the twitch that Luffy cannot contain.

Controlling himself from snatching it back, Luffy nods, _yep!_ and tries to ignore the odd absence of the hat sitting heavy at his shoulders. Around him, his not-quite-crew appear to be holding their breaths, and even Sanji’s agitated _click-clack_ of their lighter has ceased.

“S’not just an earring though, is it?”

“This is not just a hat,” Promise agrees.

 _Yeah_ , Luffy breathes, helpless not to. “Will it do?”

In lieu of answering, the Goddess plops the beloved hat onto her head in a slow, almost exaggerated motion, as though daring Luffy with a final opportunity to take it back. When he only stands firm in face of the taunt, hands clasped behind his back and rocking back easy onto his heels, Promise presents the earring in return.

“That’s Zoro’s,” Luffy argues, wondering why she is holding it out to him.

Promise smiles - _really_ smiles this time. “Yes, but it is _you_ to whom I have made a Promise,” she reminds, continuing to wait for Luffy to accept what he has earned.

He takes it - and then promptly presses it into Zoro’s hand.

“Thanks lady,” Luffy says - only, the Promise has moved in the second he took his eyes away, and now she stands by the shoreline looking quite out-of-place with Luffy’s hat on her head, the coastal waters surging and receding but never quite reaching her feet. Luffy and Usopp whirl around to face her, both emitting exclamations of _whoooa_ , and Sanji almost falls right from their vantage point and into the sea. Only Zoro remains composed at Promise’s reappearance, considering the golden earring in his hand.

Crow’s feet wrinkles appear around Promise’s eyes, yet when she speaks, her voice is apathetic once again. “You will find that this country is inflicted with a terrible drought. A man - a mortal man, no less - is manipulating dance powder to seize control of the kingdom, and his efforts have led to the deity who dwells here to fall ill. You will find both this deity and those you seek in the palace.”

“Nami too?” Usopp asks, squinting at Promise in doubt.

“Yes, even the Storms. I suggest you take care in how you tread in this country - civil unrest is astir; to take it lightly, even in humans, will be a mistake.”

“Ah, sure,” Luffy says offhandedly. Such a warning will never deter him, and Promise seems to recognise this as she inclines her head, the straw hat tipping over her eyes.

Then she is gone.

Luffy grins, folding his arms behind his head. Despite just seeing his hat disappearing before him, he still experiences a moment of confusion as his hands fail to brush ribbon and straw, but then, as his nakama turn to him with varying expressions of stupor, Luffy beams at them.

“Guess we’re going to the palace, huh?” he laughs, glad for their good fortune. Sunlight burns the edges of his eyes, causing him to squint, but the now-not-straw-hatted God only has a face of happiness for this peculiar turn of events.

The other Gods don’t appear to share the sentiment.

“Why did you do that?” Zoro breathes, still clutching the earring as though he isn’t sure what to do with it; isn’t sure that he should or he _can_ loop it back through his ear, which is ridiculous as far as Luffy is concerned, because didn’t it come _out_ of his ear?

“What d’ya mean?” Luffy asks. “We had to swap something for what She said about Chopper, right?”

Zoro shoots him an oddly exasperated yet wonderstruck expression; _I can’t believe you_ , it seems to say, or perhaps something more like, _I can’t believe someone like you exists_ , which has Luffy’s grin widening. “ _I_ should’ve given Her something.”

“You didn’t have anything to give Her,” Luffy argues, because that’s the truth; he had _seen_ the frustration on Zoro’s face at Promise’s demand.

“Unless She _wanted_ your terrible sense of direction,” Sanji adds, calling the comment dry and unflappable down from atop the Sea King’s crown.

Zoro glowers and grits his teeth but doesn’t rise to the taunt. Instead, he keeps his attention on Luffy, the other two earrings chiming together as he shakes his head. “But you had to give something -”

“That’s okay!” Luffy insists, laughing his signature laugh. “I think we’ll be seeing Her again.”

“You do?” Usopp asks.

“You do?” Zoro echoes.

“Uh-huh,” Luffy says, leaving the explanation at that. He can’t explain his certainty; Promise has no reason to seek them out again, but then, had she any reason to find them this first time? “Don’t worry about it! Let’s go find Chopper and Nami, yeah? Sanji, you’re coming right?”

“Deserts,” the Ocean reminds him. “No.”

Luffy whines and opens his mouth to argue ( _but you just got here!_ ), but Usopp snatching his arm and urgently pointing up towards the sky distracts him from shooting the chef the puppy-dog eyes. This is probably just as well as he doesn’t think Sanji truly _could_ resist the captain’s pout, and making any of his nakama do something they’re so strongly against isn’t ever going to be Luffy’s intention.

“Hey, there’s something coming!” Usopp exclaims, gesturing to a shape high up in the storm clouds.

“What is it?” Zoro rumbles, fastening the earring back into his ear as he lifts his gaze, dark eyes squinting at the unidentified object as it soars over the desert, breaking from the thunderous sky to blur into a silhouette against the sun.

“I - it’s a bird!” Truth says. “But it’s massive!”

 _Massive_ is, perhaps, understating it just a little bit when the bird alights down before them, easily three times Luffy’s height and just as wide. As its incredible wingspan stretches out in feathers of dusty brown and white, the Gods can only tip back their heads beneath the falcon’s colossal size. It watches them for a moment, beady eyes darting between Luffy’s brilliant smile and Sanji’s calm reserve, before clacking its black-tipped beak and announcing:

“I have come bearing a message from the Healer, who currently resides in the palace of Alubarna. You are Zoro?” the bird asks, tilting its great head to peer at the gold-tinted God.

“That’s me,” Zoro says, speaking over Luffy’s mumble of _huh, weird_. If the earth-bound God feels any uncertainty as to why Promise, herself, hadn’t been able to pass on this message just minutes before, then Zoro says nothing as the falcon folds in its wings, feathers ruffling like wind over the sand.

“The Healer seeks the assistance of an individual by the name of _Brook_ , whom He claims you will know, and asks that you, and I do quote, ‘stop fussing over me, I’m fine. Please tell me you didn’t do any permanent damage to the town _or_ yourself, I can’t patch you back together all of the time - oh, and can you bring Brook as soon as you can? There’s a Goddess here who’s terribly ill and I’ll need Their help. Last I heard, They were at Drum, and you know where that is, right?’”

Here the falcon pauses and apologies for being unable to reproduce Chopper’s high-pitched squeal, and if there was any doubt as to the origin of the message, there isn’t once Zoro scrubs a hand over his face with a groan. The bird continues, “‘Is this message too long for you Pell? No? Oh thank goodness. I’m rambling. I’m sorry, I ramble when I’m nervous, I can’t help it. It’s been so long since I healed another Goddess. Zoro, please don’t get lost - and hurry, I need Brook as soon as possible. I’ll be waiting in the palace shrine, okay?’ This concludes the message.”

“He really _is_ a kid, huh?” Sanji ponders, seeming torn between teasing Zoro for his embarrassment and worrying over Chopper’s rather vague message.

Luffy laughs and thanks the falcon for his _pretty neat_ imitation of the little Healer, but this only serves to heighten Zoro’s chagrin. “ _Pell_ , right?” Luffy asks, the giant falcon still awaiting a response. “Was Nami there too? She’s the Storms and Skies.”

“She has orange hair,” Usopp supplies, to which Sanji swiftly adds, “Was _Promise_ there as well?”

“The Goddess Nami and the God Chopper did arrive as one, yes, but I do not believe I have met the deity of promises,” Pell explains. “The Healer and the Storms are the only company that the Lady Harvest currently keeps.”

“Harvest? She’s here? She’s the one who’s sick?” Zoro repeats, blurting the name with surprise. He had mentioned her as they left Whiskey Peak, Luffy remembers; a Goddess capable of summoning the rain. Promise’s warning about the dance powder must be accurate then, if an illness terrible enough to allow a mortal man to overthrow her power has befallen the Harvest.

“Hey, d’you think She’ll make us a feast if we help Her?” Luffy asks, eyes gleaming at the prospect of a godly, all-you-can-eat buffet; that’s what _he_ would do were he the Harvest, but if Pell has any insight into the Goddess’ mind, then he doesn’t share.

“Yes,” is what Pell says instead, deciding that Zoro’s question is the one worth answering. “He has taken it upon Himself to do all He can to assist Her.”

“Well, Nami did kidnap Him,” Usopp mutters, earning himself a withering glare from the Ocean.

“To _help_ the Harvest. They must know each other,” Sanji stresses, jabbing a cigarette in their friend’s direction. It’s a likely conclusion, and one that sheds a new light on Nami’s desperation in her hunt for the Healer, but Luffy cannot help but wonder why she hadn’t just _asked_ for their help.

“Why else would Nami go so far out of Her way?” Sanji asks.

“Because it’s the right thing to do?” Usopp suggests weakly, adopting his _why am I arguing with you_ tone.

“ _Right_ ,” Zoro says with a snort. “Because Storms is really the kind of person -”

“Guess we’ll just have to find out!” Luffy says, his cheer interrupting before another argument can ensue. Hopefully Chopper returning safe and sound will allay the heightened tension between his not-quite-crew; Luffy doesn’t blame Zoro for his temper, knowing that he would be the same if someone threatened Ace, but arguing amongst themselves isn’t helping anybody.

“We should go find this _Brook_ guy and bring Them to Chopper!” Luffy suggests. “D’you think it’ll take long? Hey, hey, Zoro, d’you have something like those cool shell things -?”

“I’ll go,” Sanji volunteers, flicking their cigarette into the ocean behind them. It _plops_ beneath the coastal shore and then begins to float like a soggy paper boat, and Sanji wrinkles their nose as though they can still taste it. “Drum, right? That’s a winter island. You guys should go straight to the palace and meet up with the others.”

Usopp’s response is immediate, but no less surprising. “I’m coming with you.”

Sanji’s visible eye rolls, but less like a whirlpool and more like the God doesn’t know what to do with such loyalty. “I can go by myself, long-nose,” they say, but if they’re trying to argue the matter then the words fall a little flat, more like a statement and less like a denial.

Usopp’s nose scrunches anyway, a hedgehog attempting to making himself fierce. “You’re my - friend,” he says, stuttering over the word before continuing with new-found confidence. “My best friend. So I’m coming with you. And if - if you have a problem with that -”

“You getting on or what, you idiot?” the Ocean calls, the Sea King lowering its head until its chin _thumps_ against the sandy shore at Usopp’s feet. Usopp flusters, startling away from the giant, but the turtle only waits and Sanji only raises a swirly brow.

He clambers onto the Sea King. “Right! Right, I’ll - err - do that! I’m not an _idiot_.”

Sanji laughs.

“Brook’s the God of Sleep and Time,” Zoro explains, just as the Sea King prepares to depart. Waves surge along the coastline as it moves, and the desert earth almost sizzles as the cold waters meet the sand. “You’ll know Them when you see ‘em.”

“Nice and vague,” Sanji grumbles, gesturing for the turtle to make haste.

Zoro clicks his tongue, shooting the Ocean an _all right, if you really wanna know_ look that has Luffy muffling his laughter. “They’re a skeleton.”

“They're a _what?_ ” Usopp cries, and his wailing can still be heard long after the Sea King has left the shore.

 

 

 

“So you _haven't_ got any of those cool shell things like Sanji?” Luffy asks as their trek across the desert begins, Pell’s instructions guiding them on. The falcon returned to the palace to forewarn their arrival, and now the two Gods tackle the midday sands, Luffy shaking out his flip-flops every other step.

Zoro huffs - which is all he seems to be doing. It's hard to tell if he's coping with the heat better or worse than Luffy, but he, at least, seems to find salvation in the ground beneath him.

“Why do you insist on comparing us?”

“Eh?” Luffy replies, cocking his head. Zoro’s expression is impassive, but his hands twitch as though seeking comfort from an invisible-something at his side. “Well, you're opposites aren't you? Sanji’s the sea and you're all - _earthy_.”

“Earthy.”

Luffy _uh-huhs_ , thinking back to the quake of the ground beneath Whiskey Peak town. “Aren't you?”

“Well - yeah. I'm more than that though.” He says this as if it's a challenge, as if he's daring Luffy to argue, and Luffy can only snicker at how _true_ and _unnecessary_ Zoro’s words can be.

(He's known that there's more to Zoro all along).

“You like trees too, right?” Luffy ponders. “Hmm. Treey.”

“Tree - _stop_.”

Luffy stops, toes sinking into the sand, and Zoro smacks the back of his hat-less head as he passes.

The sun begins to set far in the west when they arrive at capital city. Over Alubarna, storm clouds already darken the pomegranate sky, lightning and rain dancing together with a tango tempo, clashing and spitting and worrying the bone-dry city beneath. People remain sheltered inside of their homes, the streets barren like Whiskey Peak before (and unlike Loguetown before it, that city a crowd of colour and life). There is no need to pass Unseen through the dusty winds here, no need to hide themselves from the awe of mortal man, and Luffy casts a grim contemplation over the town.

The clock tower strikes. Its toll announces a godly arrival to no-one.

The first water-well they find is brick and mortar and nothing more. The second is just as dry. If the streets weren't already cracked and parched beneath their feet, they would tremble at Luffy’s anger; the sky would tremble at his anger, it would thunder and fear and pour down the rain that this country is dying for. But it won't rain until the Harvest is well, not even with Nami’s presence it seems, and so Luffy kicks up the dirt and marches straight to the turmoil within the palace walls.

Zoro follows.

(And where he treads, if only for just a moment, the brush of his footstep passing over, the ground seems to soften from cement, to rock, to earth and gentle soil).

The depths of the palace protect Harvest’s shrine, and it is there that they find a candlelit hush - a place still apart from the realms of man, even now, with despair drying up the lands of this country and bringing the Goddess to her knees. No offerings have been laid out for her, and as Luffy passes the empty baskets and runs his fingers across where the mounds of fruit and bread should be, he vows to remember and return once Alabasta is plentiful again.

(Maybe she'll leave something for him, too).

(He doubts it).

The light is low at the back of the shrine, but quiet mutterings lead the two Gods on. Pell is nowhere to be seen, but a hellish, demon of a jackal stands guard over the three immortals within the shrine - one, a stranger, lying prone beneath blankets and quilts, but the other two a familiar sight that lifts a terrible weight from Luffy’s mind. With his back to them, the reindeer deity busies himself with a concoction of herbs, but beside him and sighing heavy-hearted at their approach is the Storms, her hair strewn about a drawn expression, skin pale against freckles of amber and eyes smudged red.

“Nami,” Luffy says, and she smiles a grimace, her lightning spark but a flicker now, like the candlelight softening the edges of the room.

The other Goddess is slumbering away a feverish dream in the makeshift bed. Opal blue hair is almost all there is to be seen of her beneath the blankets, but this must be Harvest, Luffy realises, listening to the Goddess’ raspy breaths with dread.

“Chopper!”

The little God startles, ears perking and eyes finally looking up at Zoro’s call of his name. “ _Zoro_! Oh, be careful, don't make too much noi -”

Chopper shrieks as Zoro scoops him up, the deer’s bubblegum hat toppling to the ground, but Harvest does not stir at the commotion. The Healer reprimands Zoro anyway, just managing to _bop_ him on the nose before Zoro squishes him into a hug.

“You all right? You hurt?”

“I didn't hurt Him,” Nami assures, speaking with a snap but looking somewhat guilty all the same.

“Yeah ‘cause I'm really in the mood to believe you,” Zoro huffs, to which Storms only rolls her eyes. “Chop?”

The reindeer squirms at the attention, almost preening as Zoro ruffles his fur. “I'm fine, I'm fine you bastard. Harvest needs me here - She’s really sick. I got your message from Pell - someone’s gone to fetch Brook?”

Zoro glances down at the feverish Goddess, eyes tracking the medicines and herbs that Chopper has laid out. “Usopp and the Ocean, yeah. They’ll find Them, no problem.”

“The Ocean’s doing something for _you_?” Nami blurts, eyes boggling at Zoro.

“Sanji’s nakama,” Luffy cuts in, not sure he likes or understands the sound of Nami’s indignation - be it at Sanji or Zoro both. “They're nice.”

The Storms clicks her tongue like a thunderclap, no doubt catching onto Luffy’s confusion. “But they're the _Ocean_ and the _Earth_.”

 _The Earth?_ Luffy thinks, sure that this cannot explain the _pull_ that he feels - but sure, as well, that it can explain the _push_ between Sanji and Zoro, and how they bicker and fight and yet work in harmony when it matters the most.

“They can get along,” Luffy insists, pouting on his nakamas’ behalf. “They made beaches, didn't they? Beaches are good.”

Zoro _laughs_.

“And what about _you_ anyway,” Nami continues, singling Luffy out now that she's lost that argument. She hasn’t got her weapon in her hands, but she as may as well have for her glower. “Why did you follow me?”

Luffy tilts a befuddled expression at her. “You're crew.”

“And She's crew too?” Storms asks, throwing a glance at Zoro - or past Zoro, maybe, to someone that Luffy cannot see.

“She who?”

“ _Me_ you idiot,” is Zoro’s sigh, muffled somewhat as he - she? - shifts Chopper in his hold. “She. He. _They_. Who cares. But no. I'm only here to get Chopper back.”

“Chopper’s crew,” Luffy states - _argues_ , really, because that's _maybe_ stretching the truth a little, but neither Zoro or Nami know that. “I already asked.”

“What,” Zoro grunts, Chopper squeaking in his arms. “When.”

“He wants to be friends,” the Healer admits, flustering at Luffy’s broadening smile. “I've never had a friend before.”

Zoro raises an eyebrow as though offended by this accusation, but still hitches the little reindeer further into crook of his - Luffy’ll stick with _his_ until told otherwise - arm when Chopper wiggles out of place.

“You're _different_ ,” Chopper rushes to explain, ducking away from the God’s stern look. His hat knocks against Zoro’s chin, seeming to nudge Zoro's glower into a smirk as it does.

“Different huh?” Earth rumbles, bending to set the deity at Harvest’s bedside. Chopper fusses like a child receiving punishment, worried that he has caused upset, and before Zoro can deposit the doctor by his patient’s side, Chopper has latched quite stubbornly onto his emerald robes.

“You set my _bedtime_ ,” the Healer mumbles from somewhere within the hug, and Zoro huffs a laugh.

He pats the reindeer’s head, scratching under his ears. “Yeah and how many times have you set _mine_?”

“You're a terrible patient,” Chopper mutters, and Luffy snickers, imagining this to be true. Zoro scrubs a hand through the reindeer’s fur one last time before setting Chopper on the shrine’s cold floor, and Chopper casts a concerned gaze to Harvest’s slumber. “Brook’s really on Their way?”

It’s Luffy who answers. “Yeah, They'll be back with the others real soon! What's made Harvest sick anyway?”

“That Goddess said something about _dance powder_ ,” Zoro reminds him, casting Luffy’s thoughts back to their encounter with Promise. “Whatever that is.”

“It manipulates the rain,” Nami explains, budging closer to the slumbering Goddess to give the two deities space to sit. It's one of the few tokens of goodwill that she's shown them, and while Luffy flops down instantly and makes himself comfortable, Zoro chooses to remain standing.

“That's why this country’s in drought,” Storms continues, ignoring him. “Someone's using it to overthrow the monarchy.”

“Huh,” is all Luffy says, more interested in poking Harvest’s toes from where they stick out from under the blanket.

“Didn't Promise say it was a mortal?” Zoro asks sharply, the verbal equivalent of nudging Luffy to _stop fiddling_ in case Nami notices.

She doesn’t. “Who’s Promise?”

Obediently, Luffy manoeuvres his hands into his lap, grinning all the while. “She's a tall lady who helped us in the desert!”

Luffy doesn't so much as see Zoro’s eye roll as he does _hear_ it. “She took your _hat_.”

“But She gave us information! And one of your earrings!”

“Earrings?” Chopper echoes, blinking up at Earth’s deepening vexation. Confused, the little deity tugs off his hat and - for some reason - rummages around inside, muttering to himself even as a look of horror befalls his expression.

“ _Eiiiii_!! I've lost it! Oh no - Zoro!”

“It's fine, I've got it,” Zoro says, tapping the three bars of gold so that they dance and jingle in his ear. Chopper breathes a sigh of relief and pushes his antlers back through his hat, yanking the brim down to cover his bristling embarrassment.

“But,” he mumbles, blue nose wrinkling. “How did She…?”

“Guess She’s pretty sneaky!” Luffy laughs, liking the mysterious Goddess even more. Chopper doesn't seem to agree, but Zoro kneeling down to scrub his fur does wonders for cheering him up.

“Check you haven't lost anything else,” Earth advises, dragging the Healer’s medicinal bag over.

After a quick once-over, Chopper concludes that he hasn't lost anything else (“Thank goodness!”) so Nami blurting _DAMN!_ comes entirely as a surprise.

“One of my maps is missing!” she hisses, making them all jump high enough to hit the ceiling. She has overturned a satchel into her lap, and now books and tubes of paper lay scattered about her.

Luffy prompts, “Maps?” as his hands itch to snatch up one of the scrolls.

“My one of Alabasta,” Storms curses, throwing her bag down in a huff where it and all the scrolls explode into a sparkling array of light. “But why would She…?”

“Maybe She's looking to help the Harvest too?” Chopper squeaks.

Zoro dismisses that idea with a snort. “Maybe She's _not_. She's probably got something to do with the drought. She did seem to know what's going on after all.”

Nami’s glower is fire as she ascends onto her feet, weightless with grace. “Either way, She’s not going to stop me from _getting my map back_. Do you know where She went?”

“Nu-uh,” Luffy replies.

“If She took your map of Alabasta, then She’s gotta still be here,” Zoro reasons.

“She _better_ be. No one steals my maps.”

“But why would She take it?” Chopper asks gently, hoping to pacify the sparking Goddess.

“Spite?” Zoro suggests.

“Fun?” Luffy adds.

“Who cares,” Nami huffs, materialising her lance-like weapon. Zoro eyes it warily, but she doesn’t seem to notice, turning to Chopper instead. “You'll look after Vivi won't you?”

He flusters, muttering a colourful curse. “Of course!”

Nami nods, reassured, and then seems to consider her audience before kneeling down at Harvest’s side. For a moment her intention is unclear, but then she lifts one of the Goddess’ clammy hands and gently presses her lips against the bloodless-blue knuckles.

“Be back soon, okay?” she whispers, laying the Goddess’ hand back down with care.

The Harvest - Vivi - says nothing, and continues slumbering on.

 

 

 

“How long till that help arrives?” Nami asks some uneventful hours later, a hazy dusk befalling the city. The air is humid, the desert heat trapped beneath the Goddess’ thunderous overlook, and the sky flashes purple in mockery of rain. Parched the city pavements remain, the buildings boiled and the cobbles dry, and as the two deities survey the sandy rooftops, not even the birds chatter before sleep.

Everything is still.

Something beneath the city continues to stir.

Luffy hums, half-dangled from a roof-ledge and watching the lightning scatter. He had joined Nami in her search for Promise and the map, but no sight or sound of the elusive Goddess has been found. Instead, only the townspeople brave enough to poke their heads into the streets greeted Luffy’s curious stare, his difficulty in passing Unnoticed drawing a wary eye.

Even the mortals can feel the warning in the air.

“Hmm, dunno! Sanji and Usopp will be back when they're back! Don't worry ‘bout it.”

He flashes a smile at Nami, but she doesn't share his enthusiasm. She huffs, expelling a breath that crackles like the clouds above, and Luffy coos as the light fizzles in the gloom.

“Easy for you to say.”

“I trust them!” Luffy assures. “They’ll find Brook, no sweat! We should try and find Promise and this bad dude in the meantime.”

Nami considers him for a moment, likely wondering whether his outlook is to be believed. Then she shakes her head and begins to swing her legs over the rooftop, asynchronous to him.

“His name’s _Crocodile_ , but I don't know where to find him,” she reveals, looking peeved. “I thought he'd turn up at the palace, but… The king’s gone missing and the people are rebelling. I don't care much for mortals, but Vivi loves this place.”

Nami smiles here, just a tiny quirk of her mouth unbidden as she speaks, and Luffy doubts she is even aware of the fondness in her expression as she thinks of the Harvest.

“You wanna protect it?”

Her smile fades, sad eyes still looking out across the sandy city. “Yeah. But my storm clouds will only deter the rebellion for so long.”

Luffy hums, wondering what she can see in the stormy horizon. He remembers how he felt on the shore, toes curling into the trembling sand, and thinks of Vivi, of Nami and their affection, and then frowns as he recalls the citizens’ frightful eyes.

“Maybe I shouldn't have come here,” he says. “I’ve probably just made things worse.”

To his surprise, Nami is swift to disagree. “Nothing can stop violence, not really,” she argues, sounding bitter about it. “Mortals fight because they can. Maybe the rebellion is what Crocodile wants. Maybe it'll draw him out.”

“And then we stop him?” Luffy guesses, stomach twisting as Nami’s expression darkens. “We're not meant to hurt mortals. Not directly - not really. That’s what Shanks always said.”

Storms sneers. “He’s an Old God, of course He’d say that. Mortals are the reason that Vivi is _dying_.”

“I don’t want people to be scared of me.”

“They’re _already_ scared of you,” Nami snaps, tips of her auburn hair crackling like a fiery dawn. Her grip tightens on her weapon, and above them, lightning splits open the sky. “You can't escape that.”

 _Some things you cannot change_ , _no matter how much you hate them_ , Ace had said once, knocking back his hat to reveal a grim demigod smile, demigod eyes, demigod face and hair and freckles and all. _And trust me, there are things I'd want to change, too._

 _Maybe you should embrace it_ , Sabo had suggested, pinching Luffy’s frowning cheek. _If Ace can be fire, then you can be -_

Thunder rumbles in the distance. Nami looks up to her clouds, expression tight, and Luffy’s gaze follows her as a lightning bolt fails to strike.

Colour bleeds from Storms’ face. “That wasn't thunder,” she breathes, even as the rumble resounds again. The sky remains dark, lightning swallowed by the grey expanse, and Nami floats up from the rooftop at the sound. Luffy jumps up beside her, his hand snatching her arm to steady them both as the building begins to shake, the windows and shutters clattering with an ominous pound.

“Something’s coming,” Nami says, faze narrowing. “From the air? Or…?”

Luffy opens his mouth to ask _what_ , but something sickening clogs up his throat. His ears pound like cannonballs blasting open the sea, like the city shaking around them. Heart hammering, the foundation of his very being starts to writhe inside of his gut, and he knows what the answer is before Zoro appears from below, face carved into a grave determination like the grooves of oak withstanding the test of time.

“They're coming across the desert. Soldiers are being readied at the palace; the rebel group are here,” he announces, voice heavy. A wildness burns gold behind his eyes; Luffy is sure the flames are just as bright in his own eyes. There is an army on the horizon, and Luffy can hear the hearts of every single man.

“Why now? What’s changed? Is Vivi okay?” Nami whirls to face Zoro, her lance raised. “You're meant to be watching Her!”

Her lance spits at the end. Zoro holds his hands up in a lazy surrender. “She's _fine_. Relax, this commotion’s probably done us a favour and woken Her anyway - hey! I was kidding -!”

Nami ignores him, light blazing around her as she vaults from the roof and disappears. Zoro grumbles _sheesh_ before turning to Luffy, and the sound of the stampede seems to resonate around them, the buildings pounding to the beat of Luffy’s heart.

“Vivi’s gonna get hurt if they destroy the city,” Luffy says, wondering what Zoro sees on his face.

“A lot of people are gonna get hurt,” Zoro agrees. “No luck finding Promise?”

Luffy shakes his head, only confirming what they both already know. Down in the streets, the citizens seem to come to life, realisations of their bloody fate rising in screams of terror into the air.

“Can you stop them?” Luffy asks, eyebrows drawing together as he remembers Usopp’s earlier comment - _I don't think Zoro’s in charge here._ It may be the ground beneath their feet that shakes, a rebellion riding across the open desert and kicking up the sand, but it must be the Harvest who rules over this parched and dying land. Earth is strongest with the trees and the soil, the mountains and the fields; out here, Zoro isn’t Earth as much as he’s something _else_.

Zoro shakes his head, mouth a grim line. “I’m not leaving Chopper. The palace will be the first place ransacked. He’s a sitting duck with the Harvest.”

Luffy concedes to the first point, but is doubtful over the second. “Nami’ll protect them.”

Zoro’s face twists, the anger from Whiskey Peak like the shadow of a mountain cast over the earth. “Yeah, well, guess I’m still not in the mood to trust Her,” he grumbles. His protectiveness of Chopper is admirable - sweet, really - but if they’re too be friends and if they’re to be _crew_ , then he and Nami will have to set their differences aside.

Still. “But you’ll trust me?” Luffy asks, rocking back onto his heels. Out of time, his flip-flops smack the rooftop to the sound of the city awakening to fear below, and though he can feel the urge to throw himself into the calamity and wreck the mortals’ idea of what it means to _fight_ , Luffy looks to Zoro, standing strong and steady instead.

“Is my trust misplaced?” the earthly God asks, three golden earrings clinking together beneath the summer-tangle of his hair.

Luffy cannot say. He hopes not; he hopes that he has never given anyone a reason not to trust him, not when he strives to be nothing like who he is, who he cannot deny. He wants to be happy, be free. He wants people who will stand by him and _live_.

“D’you know who I am?” Luffy asks.

Zoro just laughs. Head thrown back, he is entirely at ease in the company of somebody like Luffy, and though the world quakes and the sky breaks, revolution fast upon them, he has not once turned to Luffy in anger, nor blamed him as Alubarna’s peace has come undone. Not as others would do, as others have done.

“Hard not to,” Earth drawls. “You like shouting your name at people, huh?”

Luffy blinks, regarding his friend with astonishment, with a burning sensation of delight, and then as Zoro tilts his head, perhaps confused by the captain’s quiet, Luffy laughs and blinds him with a smile.

 

 

 

Music drifts through the palace walls, a sombre tune resonating low from the bow of violin. The soldiers that march to defend the city seem not to notice it, helmets blocking all sound except the thundering of their hearts, perhaps. Luffy and Zoro pass Unseen through the crowd - or mostly Unseen, in Luffy’s case, his hat-less amble drawing the slightest of glances from the army, whereas Zoro’s strides never falter as the mortals make way for the deity they cannot perceive. In the heart of the shrine where Vivi is resting, the melody quickens, a sleepy sound perking up into animation and glee, and the source becomes apparent as the low, dusk glow of the candlelights reveal a masked musician playing a violin with hands of bone.

As Luffy and Zoro approach, Chopper raises one small hoof to his mouth and _sssh_ s, asking them to be quiet. Zoro raises a doubtful eyebrow before slapping a hand over Luffy’s mouth and keeping it there for the duration of the performance, and from a corner of the shrine, there is a choked-off sound of laughter from the Ocean, hands twirling a lighter but no cigarette in sight.

Luffy’s eyes brighten at the sight of them there, but with Zoro’s grip firm, he is unable to offer a happy squawk of Sanji’s name. Sanji merely rolls their visible eye, looking faintly amused in the candlelight. Their face is pale, too, haggard with lips twitching as though they _really_ need the nicotine, and Luffy hums behind Zoro’s hand as he recalls Ocean’s reluctance at traversing the desert. They’d had little problem on the shores of Whiskey Peak, so maybe it’s the torrid sand that weakens them, the sweltering air and the deep, empty oases.

(Zoro’s stomach had rocked with the ocean waves. Does Nami fear the world underground; caves and tunnels where the air is stagnant and the ground arched above her?)

Brook’s music continues to sing, elegant and lively where the deity’s body is not, skeletal and thin beneath a draping cloak of wool. Their mask is gruesome and worn, carved of shadows and smiling cold, but Brook’s laughter is a tinkering glee as the Harvest rouses, eyelids seeming to flutter in time with the song.

Nami sucks in a breath, scrambling to the Goddess’ side. “Vivi? Viv?” she calls, bright orange hair tumbling over her frantic expression as she leans over, hands reaching to cup Harvest’s jaw. “Come on, you need to wake up. Can you wake up?”

“ - ‘mi?” comes the slur of Nami’s name, Vivi’s ghostly pallor twisting in confusion. Slowly, she blinks two turquoise eyes through her hazy consciousness, and the next utterance of her name is one of relief, Nami swooping down to kiss her jaw, her nose, her forehead and crown.

“Heavens _above_ ,” Nami is gasping, clutching at her other half. “Heavens above, Vivi, you're awake, _you're okay_.”

“Forgive the intrusion, but this is only a temporary solution,” Brook explains, lowering their violin to store it impossibility into their cloak. At once, Nami seems to remember the crowding presence in the room, but it is Vivi who flushes with colour as Brook offers a jolly wave. “I am Sleep,” they introduce. “And Time, if you will. From slumber I may rouse you, but I am not capable of the healing arts. The source of your illness, Harvest dear, is not mine to resolve.”

That, Luffy decides, is still _pretty neat_.

“I thank you anyway,” Vivi says, dipping her head. She is pale and weak but she grips Nami’s hand tightly, voice staying strong as the palace rumbles around them. “But I must know: what has happened in my absence? What has become of Alabasta? And what brings four Gods deep into this city?”

Zoro and Sanji both gesture a thumb at Luffy, who rocks back onto his heels and laughs.

“I'm Luffy! This is Zoro and Sanji and Chopper - we're friends! Hey Sanji, is Usopp around?”

Sanji’s mouth twitches as though they are trying their hardest not to laugh. “Oh yeah, He's up on the lookout. We'll hear Him screaming if anything happens.”

The Harvest seems quite unsure how to take Luffy’s spontaneous declaration, and instead picks the safer conversation: “Usopp?”

“Childhood,” Sanji explains, offering Vivi a stunning smile. “I'm the Ocean. I don't believe our paths have ever crossed before, but it is a pleasure to meet such a beautiful Goddess as yourself!”

“Oh!” she cries, wide eyes flicking to Nami’s flabbergast expression. Sanji’s entire body is wobbling weirdly, and Nami’s aren't the only eyebrows to rise.

Luffy snickers. Sanji looks like a noodle.

“Well, it's um, very nice to meet you too,” Vivi agrees, sounding notably uncertain about this.

(“That explains -” Nami drawls, shaking her head. “- so much.”)

“I'm the Healer!” Chopper chimes, medical bag at the ready as he shuffles closer to the Harvest. “I have some medicines that I'd like to try now that you're awake.”

“The Healer? Then…” Vivi’s feverish eyes slide from Chopper to Zoro, sapphire dulled to an opal-ish blue. She breathes a surprised sound at the sight of Earth’s imposing figure in the corner, and her face seems to brighten as though lifted by hope. It’s an odd expression to direct at Zoro, Luffy thinks, when both Nami and Chopper are in the room.

“I’ve not seen you for many years,” Vivi whispers, eyes darting from Zoro’s hair, to his earrings, to the mud still dirtying his robes. “You’ve come to help?”

Zoro shifts his weight, drawing the unanimous attention of the room. Again, he itches for something at his side. “Guess so.”

“The rebellion - the massacre. Can you stop it?” Harvest asks, and it almost sounds as though she's begging - not for herself, but for the country, the mortals, and for the help of a God that has no domain here.

(For the help of a God that Luffy only _thinks_ has no domain here).

Zoro shakes his head, earrings ringing. “Not without bloodshed.”

“But -”

“It's already _begun_ ,” he interrupts, and that, if nothing else about the impending fate of Alubarna, is true. He scowls, arms crossed over his chest. “I'll help the Gods, Vivi, but how the humans slaughter themselves is not my concern.”

“But you're _Peace_!” she protests, her hair darkening to a stormy hue. It looks as though it were made of rain, waves of a waterfall spilling down her back, and Luffy isn’t surprised to see the neck of her robe begin to dampen as she hisses at Earth - at _Peace_ \- in the corner.

“And that’s what they’re after,” Zoro advocates, an argument that even Vivi cannot deny. “Why else do people fight?”

“Because of madness! Glory! You condone this?”

Zoro’s eyes are hard, and for all that he blooms and laughs and is the steady, unyielding Earth, he looks less like the trees and the flowers and the serenity of spring in that moment than Luffy has ever seen him. There is a coldness about him, something inside that calls to bloodshed and chaos just as it does in Luffy, and maybe it’s only fitting that Zoro’s Peace when it is this that Luffy strives for - friendship and a freedom to be.

“Peace is _war_ , Vivi -”

“And what? _War is peace_?” Vivi laughs - a cynical sound. “Is that right?”

 _Is that right?_ Luffy thinks, still aware, even deep within the shrine, of the blood boiling in the city and the hearts of a hundred men steeling themselves for battle. He can’t be sure what’s going through Zoro’s head, but he knows that he’s the only one who could understand. With a soft, _hey_ , that breaks through the argument like a battle cry, he reaches up for a hat that isn’t there and then blinks, quite stupidly, as the six other deities whirl towards him as the siege of Alubarna screams overhead.

“Shanks said we shouldn’t hurt mortals, but I’m gonna stop Crocodile,” he announces, asking for no one’s permission. His eyes flick across the group - from Zoro to Chopper and over Brook, then Sanji and Nami and Vivi. “Then it can rain and the harvest can grow, and the fighting can stop and people can be happy and you guys won’t have to argue anymore.”

Vivi lowers her gaze, humbled and downcast, and though Zoro’s pride denies him the same, he does incline his head at the captain’s command. Satisfied that any grievances will be postponed until after Alabasta is saved, Luffy turns his attention to the remaining immortals, assured that with a crew as awesome as this, Crocodile won’t know what hit him.

“We don’t know where he is,” Nami sighs, which is a good point, and the reason they’re all still hovering around the temple shrine and the civil war rages above them.

“How hard can it be to find _one_ mortal?” Sanji asks, only to fluster at the withering look Nami shoots them.

“We don’t even know what he _looks_ like.”

Luffy taps his chin in thought. “We could round everyone up and get Usopp to ask them?”

Disbelieving groans fill the room. “Please tell me you’re joking,” Nami sighs - and no, Luffy hadn’t been joking, as he is swift to insist with a laugh.

“It could work!”

“No, that’s _not_ how it works,” Sanji argues, shoving a hand through their fringe. Both of their swirly eyebrows are revealed just briefly, and their eyes seem unusually pale even in the dimly candlelit gloom. “And Usopp’s Childhood at the moment, anyway. Think of something else.”

“There’s the tombs beneath the palace,” Vivi interjects. “Only the royal family know about them, but -”

She doubles over with a cough, the sound wet and violent as she clutches at her chest. Nami rubs her partner’s back, eyebrows tight and expression frantic as she recognises the futility of the action, but Vivi smiles as though the touch has done anything to ease her pain. Maybe it has - Luffy, old though he may be, is new to the concept of friendship, and romantic relationships are something he has seldom considered - and he cannot say for certain. Hugs from Ace and Sabo used to make him feel happy, he remembers, but Nami also seems unconvinced by Vivi’s watery smile.

“He might be after the Poneglyph,” Harvest wheezes, continuing after a moment. Her hair is drizzling now, but the strands that frame her neck and feverish face sizzle and evaporate as she finds the breath to speak. “They tell the history of the Void Century.”

The Void Century. A time when the ancient and most powerful Gods were unmatched over the seas, waging wars, hurling hurricanes, and breathing life into the civilisations that would overthrow their rule and carve their secrets into stone.

The Gods don’t speak of the Void Century.

(And the mortals don’t speak of the Gods).

“Humans can read the Poneglyphs?” Chopper asks, clacking his hooves together nervously. This is news to Luffy - and the others, judging by their expressions of unease. He doesn’t know what is written on the Poneglyphs, but he knows instinctively not to study them - not to search for them or question them, lest he tests the wrath of the eldest Gods.

(Luckily for the Ancients, Luffy cares more about meat than the possible origins of his existence).

Sanji shakes their head glumly. “Pretty sure the ones that could were all _shot_. What was the name of that island?”

“Ohara,” Zoro supplies, and at Sanji’s _oh yeah, you remember that one?_ the God of Earth merely shrugs and explains with a grumble, “Got blown up. Nothing left of it now.”

“Survivors?” Nami prompts, and Luffy would have said that the chances were unlikely were a mortal not possibly trying to translate the Poneglyph hidden beneath their feet.

Zoro considers it. “Hell if I know. Humans can be stubborn, but they’re weak on their own.”

“Crocodile’s a human,” Vivi argues, and she’s seen first-hand just what Crocodile can do.

Zoro concedes to the point, but isn’t one to be put down. “True. But is he working alone?”

Nobody has an answer to that.

“Guess checking out the tombs is our best bet then,” Sanji says, and they are met with a round of agreement from the other deities: excited grins and wary smiles, and Chopper twitching his little blue nose. The Healer opts to remain with Vivi, who’s protest is vehement but swayed by her partner’s worried plea. Brook agrees to remain behind as well, already considering their next musical piece, which leaves Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji to go - and Nami, when Vivi urges her along.

“I want to try and break up the fighting,” she explains, gathering up her weapon and her courage at Harvest’s watery blessing. “A little bit of lightning might cause some disarray.”

“Usopp should sit this one out too. He’ll only get trampled on as Childhood,” Sanji says, although Truth isn’t here to speak to himself. In fact, Luffy hasn’t seen Usopp for _ages_ , but he’s not particularly worried - not like Sanji and the way their mouth twists like their brows - because he can take care of himself.

Luffy hums, thinking about it. “It’s up to Usopp!”

Ocean sighs. “He’ll get hurt.”

“Then you’ll just have to protect Him!”

“I’m -” They stop, gesturing vaguely to themself. They really _do_ look unwell, and out here in the depths of the desert, the waves and windy currents of the sand aren’t exactly tidal resources that the Ocean can pull upon.

Luffy thinks he understands, looping an arm through one of Sanji’s. “Then He’ll just have to protect you!” he cries, and Zoro laughs at the Ocean’s spluttering, trailing along behind as Luffy drags the deity out of the shrine. Luffy doesn’t stop to listen to any of Sanji’s arguments, but he does pause with one foot in the doorway, rounded cheeks and twinkling eyes only brightening as he remembers one final thing.

“Hey Brook!” he calls, whirling back to the skeleton God. As one, the gathering of Gods and Goddesses blink at Luffy, but he only has eyes for the spooky, _awesome_ God of Sleep in the corner. “You’re cool! You wanna join my crew?”

 

 

 

Childhood, as Sanji accurately described back on the broken decks of the Baratie, is an adorably miniature version of the curly haired, paint-splattered Truth, who’s dungarees somehow manage _not_ to quite fit him despite everything about the God already defying the usual laws of physics. He is, as Luffy is pleased to see, about _yay-high_ , but he’s also shrieking at the top of his lungs as he launches off of the palace rooftop and plummets straight towards them.

“ _I can’t catch you without water, idiot_!” Sanji roars, and rapidly descending from a great height and definitely starting to look frantically terrified about the prospect of splatting against the ground, Usopp has just enough time to bellow something before a conveniently-placed cloud swallows him whole.

Sanji heaves a sigh of relief, but Zoro looks unmoved. Luffy laughs and laughs and laughs as the cloud spits Usopp out at Nami’s feet.

“Oh Heavens,” Usopp wheezes, picking himself up from the courtyard. He pats down his clothes, his head, and wiggles his nose. “Am I dead? I’m dead, I’ve died, I’m dead -”

“You’re not dead, long-nose,” Ocean drawls, brushing dust off the boy’s shoulders. “You have Nami-san to thank.”

“You were almost splat!” Luffy howls, clutching his sides. “That was so funny! Ace used to get mad when I leapt without looking too!”

Usopp’s cheeks warm with colour. “I didn’t leap without - _OH_!” He startles, latching onto Sanji’s sleeves and almost yanking the oceanic deity head-over-heels. Luffy stops laughing, his friend’s expression of terror only deepening as he shakes Sanji’s arms. “The clocktower! The clock! There’s a bomb!”

“There’s - what?” they all echo at once.

Usopp throws his hands up, four-feet of manic. “A bomb! Ka-boom! It’s a _bomb_ , it’s gonna _blow up_! The city’s almost completely overrun - I haven’t seen the king, or any of the royal family, really, but I saw a guy ‘round the back of the palace - a mortal, I mean, I think he had a _hook_ for a hand - and I thought I saw Promise for a moment but I’m not sure because I was distracted by the _bomb_ \- why is no one else panicking about _the_ _bomb_?”

“How big of a bomb are we talking?” Zoro asks, sounding pleased by the prospect.

“How does that even _matter_?” Nami blurts, lightning rod crackling as she jabs it at him. “Usopp, can you show me where it is?”

“W - what? _Me?_ Oh no, I was just going to go and hide in a corner, maybe -”

“If it’s a _big bomb_ , it’s going to do a lot of damage,” Zoro drawls, unfazed by the Storms’ frustration. He bats her lance-like weapon away, steady in the face of the shrieking. “So there’ll be no point in hiding because _no where_ will be safe. And if it’s powerful enough to wreck the city, the question is _why_.”

“Why go through the effort of causing a drought if you can just blow everything up,” Sanji reasons, catching on. “It must be on a timer. It’ll only go off once Crocodile’s finished with whatever he needs to do.”

“Gives us some time,” Zoro agrees, and Sanji hums before shoving a cigarette into their mouth.

“We have to stop it,” Nami says. “It’s more important than stopping Crocodile right now.”

“We _could_ just let it blow him up too,” Zoro suggests, but before anybody can shut that idea down with violence and swearing, he has held up his hands. “ _But_ \- Harvest’ll kill us.”

“She’ll kill _you_ ,” Sanji snaps.

“ _I’ll_ kill you,” Nami adds.

Fortunately for Zoro’s prolonged well-being, Usopp jumps in before the Gods can make well of their threats. “Do you think we could diffuse it? Or contain it? Or, you know, stop it from killing us all?”

“Like a bomb could kill us,” Zoro says, and at receiving another of Nami’s withering glares, he throws up his hands with a sigh. “Fine, sheesh. _You guys_ deal with the bomb. I’m going to go and goad these stupid mortals into slaughtering each other.”

Luffy waits a moment to appreciate how Nami and Usopp’s jaws hit the ground before bounding off after him, snickering at the cry of _YOU’RE MEANT TO BE PEACE!_ that booms out after them. That Zoro doesn’t instantly tell him to _get lost_ is a good sign, so Luffy follows merrily as they weave across the palace grounds, the surrounding walls (the palace’s last defence) shaking and quaking as the unrest approaches. Luffy doesn’t want to imagine the carnage beyond the gates, a gruesome scene of bloodshed and metal and lives torn asunder, so he focuses on matching Zoro’s pace instead, and wondering where they’re going.

“Are we gonna go stop Crocodile now?”

“I’m not stopping you,” Zoro huffs, scrutinising a doorway before deciding that, nope, that’s not where he wants to go and moving on. “If Nami and Vivi want me to be _Peace_ , then fine, I’ll be Peace. But I do this my own goddamn way.”

“Do what?”

“ _Peace-keep_. What else?” And with that, Zoro stops so abruptly in the open courtyard that Luffy almost collides with him. Luffy’s squawk of surprise is ignored in favour in holding out one, empty hand, palm-down and fingers spread loosely, and Luffy wobbles around Earth’s motionless concentration to stare.

“Whatcha doing?”

Zoro doesn’t move, but he does grace that with a clipped answer. “Summoning my katana.”

Well that sounds _awesome_ , so Luffy crouches down beside the God, resting an eager expression in his hands. Nami’s weapon crackles into existence like a bolt of lightning, so Luffy is keen to see what a weapon of Earth and Peace will do.

Half a minute passes. Sand rolls over their feet. The ground beneath Zoro’s hand does nothing. Confused, and wondering if he’s missing something, Luffy looks up, watching as the sky simply continues to thunder, a dark and endless storm.

“Err -”

“Shut up,” Zoro hisses, clenching and unclenching his hand a few times. “Just - gimme a minute.”

Still nothing happens. Zoro stares at his hand as if he’s never seen it before.

“What’s it _supposed_ to do?” Luffy asks, disappointed by this spectacular let-down. The desert earth lays unmoved beneath them, cracked and dry but unrelenting in the face of Earth’s otherworldly powers. A beetle scurries past Luffy’s sandals, antennae twitching unknowingly towards the pair of Gods.

Zoro is still staring at his hand. “It’s - it’s meant to _grow_!”

 _Huh_ , Luffy thinks. “In a desert?”

Zoro says nothing. Luffy says nothing. The sand continues to do nothing.

Luffy has to suck in his lips to stop himself from laughing. “You wanna come find Crocodile with me now?”

Stiffly, Earth nods. There’s terrible rumble; Nami’s lightning crashing in the sky, perhaps, but it might be Zoro grinding his teeth together too, as he shoves his hands deep into his robes and stalks off. Luffy skips after him, bemoaning the absence of the sword. Zoro’s ears burn redder and redder and it’s _hilarious_ , but Luffy can be cheerful enough for them both.

He doesn’t know the way to the tomb of the kings, and judging by Zoro’s circular path as they walk and walk and walk, passing the same ancient statue again and again, neither does he. Luckily for them, one of the doors appears to grow a hand and forearm on their fifth time past, although Luffy doesn’t notice that it’s pointing them down a narrow corridor at first, preoccupied by poking the fingers and making them curl. It’s the appearance of the second hand that clues him in, but that’s only because it snags him by the back of his jacket and flings him down the corridor.

“Rude!” he huffs, dusting his shorts down. Behind him, the hands gesture for Zoro to follow, palms turning up as though to say _well?_ and though Zoro narrows his eyes, he wisely doesn’t test their patience.

“Could be a Devil Fruit,” Zoro reasons, hands twitching towards the space at his side as the strange, human appendages disappear in a flurry of petals. Eating a Devil Fruit is one of the few ways that mortals can achieve powers akin to the Gods’ - and used well, and they can challenge a God’s influence and lose, of course, but challenge them all the same.

Some Gods have grown wary of the Devil Fruits - not the Ancients, and not the newer Gods, the ones who rage and conquer and play and steal, but those like Luffy and Zoro, who pass their infinite time by blending into mortal realm.

Rightly so, in some cases.

“Crocodile’s?” Luffy guesses.

Zoro shrugs, against the idea. “Maybe. Probably not though, since Usopp said he had a hook for a hand.”

Luffy tries to imagine the flowery hands as hooks instead, gold and silver and waggling down the corridor, beckoning _come here, come here_ with a sinister touch. Zoro tries to imagine it too, if his snorting laughter is anything to go by.

With another cherry blossom scatter and a rather impatient reach, another hand appears to tug Luffy through the passageway. He only laughs at it, unfazed by its urgency, but then when another snaps out to yank Zoro along, Luffy obediently begins to follow its lead before Zoro’s temper does any damage.

The tomb of the kings is empty. The crypts are creepy and Luffy burns to poke around, but for all that Zoro’s internal compass is a twirling mess, it’s he who spots a hidden doorway carved deep into the stone. Opening it is another matter entirely, and now would be a really good time for that sword, as Luffy laments, to which Zoro grumbles and curses and rolls up his sleeves.

“Just because I don’t have my swords doesn’t mean I’m completely incompetent,” Zoro huffs, and luckily for both of them he misses Luffy’s cheeky smile as he steps up to the wall.

The doorway doesn’t budge, no matter how much Zoro strains. It does, however, simply glide open when Zoro swears at it and threatens to level the palace to the ground, but that’s probably due to the fluttering of flower petals on the other side of the door.

Crocodile isn’t in the chamber below the tombs either, but there is a frail, fatherly looking man sprawled in the centre of the room, his outfit extravagant and torn, his face bloodied and bruised, and his head resting back against a gigantic, lettered stone.

The Poneglyph. And a mortal man who Luffy nudges with his toe.

“Hey mister, you alive?”

The man coughs blood onto his shirt. Luffy is glad; he’s not sure what to do with a dead guy.

“Hey, what Devil Fruit did you eat?” he asks, but the man only blinks blearily at him, eyes hazy with pain. The volume of blood seeping into his attire _is_ pretty substantial, and Luffy frowns, wondering what this elderly mortal is doing all the way down here. The poor guy needs a doctor - but maybe he was looking for one, maybe his sense of direction is just as bad as Zoro’s.

“His hands are wrong,” Earth supplies, hardly sparing the wounded human a glance before inspecting every corner of the - frankly - tiny, desolate room. The Poneglyph is the solitary centrepiece, a cold, unnatural grey within the sandy walls of stone.

Luffy is more interested in the human than the tablet, to be honest. There must be a reason that the strange hands had urged them down here, and since there's nothing else in the chamber, this human must be it.

He kneels down beside the sickly man, nose twitching at the scent of blood. Since this guy probably isn't Crocodile or the Devil Fruit user (Zoro’s right - his hands don't match the others at all), then that poses the question of _who_ exactly he is.

“You awake mister?” Luffy asks, shaking his shoulder. He groans, head lolling towards Luffy, but after a moment of garbled talking, his eyes appear to focus.

“W - who are you?”

“I'm Luffy! Who’re you? What are you doing down here? You're bleeding pretty bad you know. Did you see Crocodile?”

At the mention of _Crocodile_ , the mortal lurches forward, heaves an agonising groan, and then flops bonelessly back against the Poneglyph. He doesn't say anything, but his panic is answer enough.

“What does he look like? Did he leave you like this? What did he want from you? Was there a spooky lady with him? Did he make awesome hands appear? Where is he? Does he have a _hook for a hand_?”

The man shakes his head, but that isn't much of an answer. Luffy whines, poking the man’s jaw to get him to talk, but he only gives a dying groan and folds into himself.

“Forget him, he's useless,” Zoro advises. “We should go looking for Crocodile.”

“But he might know where Crocodile _is_ ,” Luffy argues, puffing out his cheeks. He isn't ready to give up on the mortal even though he _is_ talking mumbling unhelpfully and bleeding out on the floor. Zoro doesn't agree, but that's okay, Luffy thinks, because they're meant to complement each other anyway.

Luffy hums, considering his next move. Truthfully, thinking more than one action ahead is tedious, pointless, and takes out all the fun from whatever adventure decides to throw at him. He's never liked planning, and he's never been any good at it anyway, but if they're going to save Vivi then they'll need to catch Crocodile, and to catch Crocodile they'll need the information that the mortal slouched against the Poneglyph will provide. Why else would the hands lead them here - unless it's a distraction? A trap?

He laughs that idea off. A crypt won't be able to contain two Gods, even if Zoro is without his swords.

“D’you think Chopper will be able to help him?”

“If Chopper used his powers to heal every dying mortal we come across, we'd never get anywhere,” Zoro sighs, which isn't exactly a _no_.

Luffy decides not to comment that they didn't get very far anyway, with Zoro’s questionable directions leading the party.

“He'll die if we don't do something.”

Zoro rolls his eyes, cursing at the Poneglyph. Still, he comes to kneel beside the mortal and lifts the man’s robes to inspect the injury. His hands move without a healer’s care, but he does back off when the man wheezes a groan.

“Could rip up his shirt and tie it round him,” he suggests. “Might slow the bleeding for a bit.”

“What if he gets cold?” Luffy mutters.

Zoro looks ready to punch him. “Fine, give him _your_ sash then. That'll work, _and_ he won't get cold.”

“Ooh! Good idea! Hey mister, yellow’s a good look on you!”

It's really not, but Luffy ties his sash around the wound anyway, hoping it'll help some. If nothing else, the action does rouse the mortal (be it through pain or gratitude) and Luffy laughs, pleased by Zoro’s quick thinking. The mortal tries to sit up again, but this time Luffy pushes him back before he can hurt himself. He doesn’t appear to appreciate it much, struggling weakly against the touch of the God’s hand, but at least his protests are coherent this time, even if they are completely futile.

“Unhand - _unhand me_. I have to get to the palace - I have to do something for my people -”

“The fight’s already begun,” Zoro declares, the mortal’s panic mounting. His eyes are wide and white, and his beard is soaked from black to red. Luffy’s sash won’t hold forever; they need to get him to a healer - or Chopper, preferably Chopper - but now, they’re only wasting time.

Zoro presses on. “Look,” he says, snapping his fingers to draw the mortal’s hazy attention. “If you want the conflict to stop, you’ll help us find Crocodile. Tell us who you are and where Crocodile went, and then _maybe_ your death won’t be a complete waste.”

The man sucks in a harsh, gurgling breath, but if the threat of his imminent death has frightened him, then he doesn’t show it. Instead, he nods along to Zoro’s words, hands clenching and unclenching as though searching for a reality to ground himself on.

“My - my name is Nefertari Cobra. I’m the King of Alabasta. Crocodile wanted - wanted information about Pluton, the -”

“One of the Ancient Weapons,” Zoro provides as the king coughs and splutters. “You led him to the Poneglyph and he tried to kill you for your trouble.”

“We _just_ missed him?” Luffy realises.

“Looks like it. Hey, Nefertari, has Crocodile eaten a Devil Fruit? Something to do with hands?”

Cobra nods, but his eyebrows are furrowed, and then he shakes his head. “No, no, not hands. A hook - his hand is a hook, and his body is - it’s made of sand.”

Well, the ability to become sand _in a desert_ makes finding Crocodile that little bit harder.

“You know where he went?” Luffy asks, because it can’t hurt. If Cobra doesn’t know, then he supposes they’ll just have to scour the desert in search of a golden hook sticking out of the sand. If Zoro’s domain had more of an influence over the desert, then this wouldn’t be a problem. But since it _doesn’t_...

“The docks,” Cobra wheezes, surprising both of the Gods. For all that his face is weary from blood loss, grey and sickly and struggling to breathe, there is a fierce determination in Cobra’s eyes. “He was heading towards the docks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty sure you've all guessed Luffy's domain by now hehe but yep, this story isn't over yet! I've had to split this chapter into two, so there'll be another one. What a surprise? :P
> 
> Please leave a review as you go! And thanks for your patience!


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